Religious Liberty? Bogor’s ‘Moderate’ Mayor Waffles!
A hugely disappointing interview with the new Mayor of Bogor, Bima Arya, who has taken over from one the most bigoted Islamists in West Java – and West Java is teeming with fanatics, from the Governor on down.
- Interestingly, he did his doctoral degree at the Australian National University in Canberra, but after a lot of brou-ha-ha about his ‘moderate’ credentials, just get a load of how crystal clear his commitment to religious liberty actually is -
How would you handle the controversial Yasmin church issue, since the incumbent mayor has refused to execute the Supreme Court order to continue the church construction?
Easy question for anybody with
- A
a conscience and
- B
a grasp of the country’s constitutional guarantees on the right to worship.
But not that easy for Arya, alas.
Opinions have been highly diverse both among Muslims, and also Christians. The main weakness has been a weak negotiation process. Leaders should have initiatives as issues of religion are at the level of the national government. My target is to bring all parties together and have more intense communication.
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Cr#p! That’s worthless waffle. There has been meaningless ‘negotiation’ for the past few years, about whether Bogor is subject to the law of the land or not. Does the writ of the Supreme Court run in West Java or not?
- If Arya can’t give us a straight answer, acknowledge that the GKI Yasmin congregation have the right to use their church. then he’s no better than Mayor Diani, the sectarian bully who preceded him.
Are you sure Bogor’s pluralism can be maintained?
What pluralism – it’s an infamous place, thanks mostly to Diani, but he didn’t operate in a vacuum, Only one party, not Arya’s PAN – stood against Islamist intolerance. That means Bogor as a whole has to bear responsibility for the evil done in its name.
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Sure, Arya waxes eloquent.
I was educated and influenced through institutions that champion pluralism like Parahyangan University [in Bandung], Paramadina University [in Jakarta] and PAN. Also my in-laws were Confucians before they converted to Islam and my wife is half-Chinese. There can be no doubt about my commitment to pluralism.
Oh yes, there can!
It’s absurd to describe PAN as an institution that champions pluralism. Only last week we posted on another PAN mayor, a rabid fanatic, who wants to force everyone in town to prayer-sessions in the local mosque. http://rossrightangle.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/the-sumatra-pan-shariah-boss-forcing-everyone-to-pray/ PAN has not even publicly dissociated itself from that bigot, never mind expelled him.
But the glaring omission is again Arya’s inability to come out for enforcement of the persecuted Christians’ constitutional rights. Instead he makes excuses. But there are legal and social realities in the Yasmin issue, there are people who really object to the presence of the church.
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Yes, we have seen them in action, GARIS, FORKAMI – primitive bigots! why don’t you denounce them, Arya? Instead you resort to irrelevant parables.
You should visit the Suryakencana area in Bogor, where people can try a popular local fried rice variation, nasi goreng gancho, which has been sold for decades along with the equally popular satay prepared by the vendor’s Chinese friend.
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Blocked by Islamist bigotry from their church
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But back to the point – good for the JP interviewer.
The national policy to have members of the majority faith to agree to the construction of a place of worship in a given area has often proved discriminative, in contrast to the constitutional freedom of worship. Could you recommend a way to change it?
[A long pause] I won’t go into that yet. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/01/25/bima-arya-vows-new-talks-church-issue.html
Yoho, here we go!
YET? As if he’s only just been presented with the problem?
He’s been active in politics for years, is well-educated, well-read, but still hasn’t figured out the difference between right and wrong?
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All he needs to say is the truth, that Yasmin Church has an inviolable right to worship, on the site approved both by the Supreme Court and the National Ombudsman, no more no less.
If he won’t say that, he’s not worth a rotten egg!
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