Nothing to do with Islam. Nothing that another billion dollars from Australia for mosques and madrassas can’t fix: ‘
“More Jiziya needed”, says KRudd
RADICAL Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir would be thrilled with the coalition’s plan to freeze $448 million in aid to Indonesian schools, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says. (Source)
The coalition has announced it would defer AusAID’s Australia-Indonesia Education Partnership to help pay for flood and cyclone reconstruction without the need for a levy.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the partnership, which aims to build 2000 schools across the archipelago over the next five years, during a visit to Jakarta last year. (Source)
An Indonesian bishop warned late last year that Islamic supremacists were “colonizing” the country from within. And they do not appear to be meeting much resistance from the Vast Majority of Moderates.
Indonesia: Police guarding churches from attacks by Muslims amid “wave of hate”
More on this story. This time, there is a welcome bit of stronger language from the Indonesian president, which is a departure from his remarks following an incident where Christians who were denied permission to use a building as a church were then also harassed and beaten for trying to worship in an empty field.
Yudhoyono’s comments made that incident sound like little more than homeowner’s association dispute. Indeed, his track record, as described below, suggests he is still more alarmed at the immediate prospect of instability and the challenge to public order posed by these rampages than broader principles of genuine equality and freedom of conscience.
“Indonesia police guard churches amid wave of hate,” from Agence France-Presse, February 9 (thanks to JW):
Indonesia: Misunderstanders of Islam burn churches, attack court building
Because a Christian man got five years in prison for distributing pamphlets they considered insulting to Islam. They believed he should have gotten the death penalty. “Indonesia: Angry Muslim crowd attacks Java churches,” from the BBC, February 8 (thanks to JW):
More than 1,000 Muslim protesters have stormed a courthouse and burned two churches in central Java, Indonesia.
Indonesian man whose five-year sentence for “blasphemy” enraged Muslims had also insulted Catholics, who declined to go on a rampage
The Catholic and Protestant response to the Muslim rampage that followed Richmond Bawengan’s sentencing has been quite unlike that of the mob of thousands of Indonesian Muslims who went into the streets looking for Christian targets, and then burned three churches, an orphanage, and a health care center, invaded a Catholic church, and severely beat the priest who tried to defend the tabernacle from desecration.
All for a book and some pamphlets. Priorities. “Muslim violence: civic society, Christian and Muslim leaders against Yudhoyono,” by Mathias Hariyadi for AsiaNews, February 9 via JW:
Continue reading Indonesia: "Interfaith Week" Turns Into "Wave of Hate"