Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Friday, July 29, 2016
Indonesia Executes Four Drug Offenders
Friday, October 23, 2015
Religious Violence Flares in Indonesia as Mob Torches Aceh Church
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| Authorities tear down a church in Aceh Singkil, enforcing a decree from the local Muslim-dominated religious harmony forum. |
Indonesia is struggling to live up to its national motto “unity in diversity” after a mob attack on a church left one dead and the authorities responded by demolishing more churches.
The attack took place in the conservative province of Aceh, the only region in Indonesia that has sharia law and where religious tension has been brewing for months.
A mob wielding sharp weapons torched the small Protestant church in the district of Aceh Singkil last week, saying it lacked an official permit. One Muslim vigilante was shot dead in the attack, while thousands of Christians fled to a neighbouring province.
Bishop Elson Lingga visited Aceh Singkil the day after the attack and said there was a deep sense of unease in the villages. “After the event everyone is suspicious of each other, thinking, ‘Are they the ones that reported us?’ They are afraid of their Muslim neighbours,” he said. » | Kate Lamb in Jakarta | Friday, October 23, 2015
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
On Patrol with the ‘Sharia Police’
Earlier this year international outrage was sparked after a horrific story of gang rape in the Indonesian province of Aceh emerged.
A group of men raided a woman’s home and found a 25-year-old woman with a married man.
Accusing them of adultery, the vigilantes, one of whom was a 13-year-old boy, gang-raped the woman, dousing her and the man with sewage before marching them to the sharia police.
Despite what happened and the trauma of gang-rape, the sharia police in Langsa insisted the woman would be caned for alleged adultery.
That story never left my mind.
Securing access to meet sharia police chief, Ibrahim Latif, I found myself in Aceh soon after. » | Patrick Abboud | Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Drug Smuggler Lindsay Sandiford Takes Death Penalty Case to UK Supreme Court
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| Lindsay Sandford at her trial last year. |
A British woman facing execution by firing squad in Indonesia for drug smuggling has no funds to mount a legal challenge against her sentence, the UK's highest court has been told.
Lawyers for Lindsay Sandiford, 57, from Cheltenham, are arguing at the supreme court that the government's policy not to provide funding for legal representation to Britons facing capital charges abroad is unlawful. The court of appeal rejected this argument in May last year.
Her barrister, Aidan O'Neill QC, told five supreme court judges that previously Sandiford had been able to fund her legal fight against the death sentence in the Indonesian courts through donations.
He said the only two chances left to her now were appealing against her sentence at the Indonesian supreme court or submitting a petition for clemency to the country's government. The first course required "detailed knowledge of Indonesian law", the second "close knowledge of the Indonesian judicial and political situation and environment".
O'Neill added: "The appellant is however effectively without legal representation in Indonesia and she has no access to any further private funding which might otherwise allow her to instruct a suitably qualified lawyer." » | Steven Morris and agency | Wednesday, June 04, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Kerry Pays Tribute to Islam in Jakarta
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| John Kerry and Grand Imam Ali Mustafa Ya'qub at the grand domed prayer hall at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia on Sunday |
JAKARTA — US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Southeast Asia’s largest mosque during his visit to Indonesia Sunday, paying tribute to Islam in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
After removing his shoes outside the Istiqlal mosque in the heart of Jakarta, Kerry walked through the vast building accompanied by grand imam Kyai al-Hajj Ali Mustafa Yaqub.
Calling it an “extraordinary place”, the top US diplomat told Indonesian reporters: “I am very privileged to be here and I am grateful to the grand imam for allowing me to come.” » | AFP | Sunday, February 16, 2014
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Indonesian Muslims Hold Anti-Miss World Protest
More than 200 members of several Muslim hard-line groups organized by the Islamic Society Forum staged a rally and march on the MNC Tower, the building that houses the local organizer of the contest.
They held up banners with "Reject Miss World that exploits women" and "Go to hell Miss World" on them, and shouted "Allah akbar," or God is great, outside the building, which was guarded by 300 police.
"This is an insult and humiliation of women," Muhammad Al Khathath, an Islamic Society Forum leader, told the crowd. "Muslims should reject the Miss World contest," he said.
The demonstration was peaceful and broke up after protest leaders met with the pageant organizers. » | AP | Jakarta, Indonesia | Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Saturday, June 08, 2013
IBN LIVE: London: Miss World contestants will not wear bikinis when they vie for the pageant's crown in Indonesia this September to avoid causing offence in the world's most populous Muslim country.
Miss World organizers said the 137 women in the competition will instead wear one-piece swimwear, some of which will also have sarongs over the top.
"This is perfectly reasonable in a country that prefers one-piece swimwear," London-based Miss World Organization Chairwoman Julia Morley said on Thursday. Morley denied suggestions the decision to ditch bikinis was made after local complaints about the contest. However, reports in Indonesian newspapers said a number of conservative groups had taken issue with the staging of the contest, highlighting bikinis as a key objection. » | Reuters | Saturday, June 08, 2013
Friday, October 26, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The idea may seem like a bad fit for some fashion mavens, who when thinking of Islamic fashion usually picture drab black or white cloths used to cloak female beauty rather than celebrate it.
But the Islamic-fashion industry has taken off in recent years as designers look for ways to incorporate the bold colors and rich textile traditions prevalent in some Islamic societies while still maintaining sufficient modesty to adhere to Muslim mores.
Indonesia, as the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, is already one of the main players, with a local fashion industry now estimated to be worth $6.6 billion dollars a year. But local designers and retailers – led by an industry group called the Indonesian Islamic Fashion Consortium – are hoping to expand the Islamic fashion component of the industry even more by drawing up a road map to make Indonesia the “capital” of global Islamic fashion by 2020.
Right now, Malaysia, Thailand and France are among the leading Islamic fashion hubs, industry officials say. » | Ahmad Pathoni | Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday, September 03, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Customs officials detained the woman, identified as Lindsay June Sandiford, 55, on May 19 with almost five kg (11lbs) of cocaine after arriving at the airport in Denpasar on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok.
Police also revealed that they today arrested another British woman, two British men and an Indian man they believe may be connected.
"We arrested the suspect after we found 4,791 grams of cocaine in her suitcase. She hid it in the lining of her suitcase," said Denpasar airport customs chief I Made Wijaya told reporters.
"We conducted an X-ray scan on the luggage, found a suspicious substance in it and then examined it," he said.
The cocaine has a street value of more than £1.6 million and Sandiford, who told officials she is a housewife, faces the death penalty for drug trafficking, Mr Wijaya said. » | Sarah Dougherty in Denpasar | Monday, May 28, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
The controversy was a blow to the predominantly Muslim country's reputation for combining free speech and democracy with a mostly moderate brand of the faith.
Fans were devastated, despite the promoter's offer of full refunds. Some accused police — who refused to issue a permit over concerns about security — of buckling to the will of a small group of thugs.
The planned "Born This Way Ball" concert has been on-again-off-again from the start.
But on Sunday, it was final, said Minola Sebayang, a lawyer for Big Daddy, the promoter of the June 3 show.
"It's unfortunate," he said. "But with threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga's side is calling it off. This is not only about Lady Gaga's security, but extends to those who will be watching her." » | Niniek Karmini, Associated Press | Sunday, May 27, 2012
Related articles here and here
Friday, May 25, 2012
A majority of Indonesia’s 240 million citizens are Muslim, and most of them are moderate, peaceful and support the country’s secular system. Still, some small groups of Islamic fundamentalists have recently become increasingly vocal and assertive in pushing their agenda.
In the most recent case, several residents threw stones, bags of urine and rotten eggs at members of a Christian congregation in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi, accusing them of trying to convert locals, said Palti Panjaitan, who is in charge of the church.
“They don’t want us there because they believe their children could grow up to become Christians,” Mr. Panjaitan said.
A group of Muslims in Bogor, another Jakarta suburb, continue to block one Christian congregation from worshipping in their church in a dispute over the building’s permit that has dragged on for more than a year. » | Ahmad Pathoni | Friday, May 25, 2012
Related »
Monday, May 21, 2012
THE NEW YORK TIMES: JAKARTA — Just a few days after Lady Gaga’s concert in Indonesia was canceled after protests by Islamic groups, I flew 1,370 kilometers from Jakarta to Padang, West Sumatra, and drove a further 130 kilometers, a four-hour journey along rough, winding roads, to Sijunjung, to visit an Indonesian atheist jailed for his beliefs.
Alex Aan, a 30-year-old civil servant, is a gentle, soft-spoken, highly intelligent young man who simply gave up his belief in God when he saw poverty, war, famine and disaster around the world.
He faces the possibility of up to six years in prison, charged with blasphemy, disseminating hatred and spreading atheism. Radical Muslims came to his office, beat him up, and called the police after reading about his views on Facebook.
Alex is the first atheist in Indonesia to be jailed for his belief, but his case is symptomatic of a wider increase in religious intolerance in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. The previous Sunday, I joined a small church in Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta, for a service, but found the street blocked by a noisy, angry mob and a few police.
The church, known as HKBP Filadelfia, was forced to close a few years ago, even though the local courts had given permission to open. The local mayor, under pressure from Islamists, has declared a “zero church” policy in his area. For the past two months, the congregation has been blocked from worshiping in the street outside their building, and the atmosphere has grown increasingly tense.
When I was there, I felt it could have erupted into violence at any moment. The radicals in control of the loudspeaker shouted “Christians, get out,” and “anyone not wearing a jilbab (headscarf), catch them, hunt them down.” » | BENEDICT ROGERS* | Monday, May 21, 2012
* Benedict Rogers works for the international human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide, based in London.
Related »
THE STAR: ALOR SETAR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom has called on the Home Ministry to carry out an immediate probe into a book authored by liberal Islamic activist Irshad Manji.
He said the Malaysian Islamic Development Department’s (Jakim) analysis of the book, entitled Islam, Liberty and Love, revealed that it was filled with words insulting Islam.
“The decision to ban the book is the prerogative of the Home Ministry. We (Jakim) can only advise them as our analysis found that the book is dangerous for the Muslims,” he said yesterday.
Irshad, who openly supported Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) lifestyles, was reported to have arrived in Malaysia on Thursday to launch her new book.
The launch of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the book under the title Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta took place at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on Saturday.
She left for New York on Saturday night.
Irshad had also authored a book entitled The Problem With Islam Today which offended Muslims worldwide and contained the same idealism as Salman Rushdie, the author of the novel The Satanic Verses. »
THE JAKARTA POST: Irshad Manji injured in mob attack in Yogya » | The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thursday, May 10, 2012
Lien en relation avec les articles »
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Christian groups in the Philippines have called for a ban on Lady Gaga's Manila concerts, alleging that her song Judas is an offensive mockery of Jesus Christ.
Youths gathered at a rally outside the mayor's office, chanting "Stop the Lady Gaga concerts", while members of the Biblemode Youth Philippines group called her videos religiously offensive.
In the song, she calls herself a "holy fool" who is "still in love with Judas", singing: "Jesus is my virtue/And Judas is the demon I cling to." In the video, Gaga plays a biker chick riding behind a man wearing a crown of thorns, while longing for another biker with "Judas" emblazoned across his leather jacket.
The singer is due to play the 20,000-seat Mall of Asia tomorrow and on Tuesday, and James Imbong, a lawyer filing a petition to ban the concerts, said Christian groups would not accept a compromise as organisers in South Korea did when Seoul authorities agreed to forbid under-12s from attending instead of cancelling the concert.
"She has a song that suggests that she wants to have sex with Judas and performs it with a dance," Imbong told the news website PhilStar. "Of course, it would be accompanied by a costume that has pornographic elements."
Manila's mayor has issued a statement ordering Gaga not to "exhibit any nudity or lewd conduct which may be offensive to morals and good custom", with the stark reminder that the penal code in the primarily Roman Catholic country of 93 million can convict anyone up to six years for offending race or religion.
Tens of thousands of Gaga fans, from Seoul to Jakarta, are campaigning for the singer's right to freedom of expression, after numerous attempts by Christian and Muslim groups to ban shows during her Born This Way Ball Asia tour, calling her music, persona and style the "work of Satan", "dangerous to youth" and "spreading unhealthy sexual culture". » | Kate Hodal | Sunday, May 20, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: Lady Gaga denied permit for Indonesia concert after religious protests: Police refuse to license Jakarta gig, saying they are unable to guarantee singer's safety following protests » | Sean Michaels | Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
AFP: LANGSA, Indonesia — Sharia police in Aceh, the only Indonesian province to practise the Islamic law, caned a homeless "punk" couple nine times Friday after they were caught having pre-marital sex in public.
Around 100 people in the town of Langsa watched and cheered when sharia police in green-and-black hoods caned the 21-year-old woman and her 23-year-old boyfriend, along with 11 others convicted of gambling.
"Those kids are punks. They were caught having sex by the public and were arrested by sharia police," Langsa prosecutor's office head Putra Masduri told AFP.
Masduri said the couple were often seen loitering on the streets dressed as punks, however they dressed in traditional white Islamic clothing for their caning.
Although they were arrested for pre-marital sex, their punishment comes amid a crackdown on punks in the province, in which police have raided cafes and parks to detain youths contributing to what authorities call a "social disease". » | AFP | Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
He said democracy must not be undermined in the name of Islam in Egypt, and called on the world to oppose Syria's President Bashar Assad.
"If Indonesia can succeed, it can lead the world in showing how democracy can offer an alternative to the dead-end choice of dictatorship or extremism," Cameron told students at Jakarta's Al Azhar Islamic university.
He said extremists were trying to turn Islam into a "closed and warped ideology" opposed to democracy.
"What Indonesia shows is that in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, it is possible to reject this extremist threat and prove that democracy and Islam can flourish alongside each other."
Cameron praised Indonesia's success in cracking down on major terror networks in the past decade since bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 claimed 202 lives, including 28 Britons.
While the country has struggled to quell attacks by Islamic extremists, the vast majority of Indonesia's population of 240 million people practice a moderate form of Islam. » | AFP | Thursday, April 12, 2012
Related »
Democracy and Islam can flourish together, David Cameron will declare on Thursday as he uses a landmark speech in Indonesia to tell the Muslim world that it can reject a "dead-end choice" between extremism and dictatorship.
In one of his most significant speeches on Islam, the prime minister will say that the world can defeat extremists, who are a "dangerous foe" on a par with supporters of slavery.
Cameron will hail the "extraordinary journey" undertaken by Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, since the end of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 as an example of the "inspirational path" countries can follow.
"What Indonesia shows is that in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, it is possible to reject this extremist threat and prove that democracy and Islam can flourish alongside each other," the prime minister will tell students at Al-Azhar University in Jakarta. "That's why what you are doing here is so important, because it gives heart to those around the world who are engaged in the same struggle." » | Nicholas Watt | Thursday, April 12, 2012
My comment:
David Cameron is doing what all politicians do these days: They deny the true nature of Islam. Like most politicians, David Cameron has neither studied Islam nor lived in a Muslim-majority country, yet he is sure of his facts, it seems: Islam is compatible with democracy.
This is wishful thinking. Islam at its core is undemocratic. And for many reasons. First among them is that Islam denies the separation of mosque and state, or religion and politics. The separation of the two is the sine qua non of a properly-functioning democracy.
Then there is the fact that democracies are ever-changing. New laws are made in response to changing circumstances, changing needs. Muslims believe in Allah’s law, Islamic law, Shari’ah law. Shari’ah law is based on the Qur’an and the Ahadith, or Hadiths – the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Islamic law is unchanging by definition. It would be heresy to change Allah's injunctions.
Living according to Shari’ah law is close to a Muslim’s heart. That’s why so many countries are in the process of introducing Islamic law after the Arab Spring, and it’s why Iraq introduced Shari’ah law at the first opportunity. Does David Cameron think that Shari’ah law is compatible with democracy then? Further, if Islam were really compatible with democracy, why has democracy not been the political norm for Islamic countries till now?
Since 9/11, all Western politicians have been in denial about the nature of Islam. They keep on repeating the same old canards, namely that Islam is really a ‘religion of peace’ and that extremists have got it wrong. In other words, the extremists misunderstand their own religion. Whereas, in actual fact, the extremists want what they consider to be pure Islam – Islam unadulterated by Western values. But this is something which our politicians cannot countenance, for were they to do so, they’d be forced to do something meaningful about it. That would take great strength and resolve. One could even say that it would bring the house of cards down, because ‘our house’ in the twenty-first century is built increasingly on the myth of multiculturalism. They’ve all bought into this, so they’ve got to try and make it work. One day, they might be forced to change course. God only knows what it will take to bring that about though! – © Mark
Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom » | Mark Alexander | Friday, April 20, 2007
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