Top Cop Sigit – Good News For Indonesia’s Pluralist Good Name!

So President Jokowi has nominated the Criminal Investigation Agency’s General Listyo Sigit Prabowo as the new National Police Chief?

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General Sigit

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One could compare him to some of his predecessors and draw mre than a few interesting conclusions…

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Indonesia’s Top Cop Calls IslamoNazi Gang ‘Very Tolerant!’ 

National Police Chief Tito Karnavian

According to Tito, their activities like that he attended will get rid of the ugly stigma of the FPI as “radical and militant synonymous with violence and intolerance….FPI is an Islamic organization so very tolerant of other religions,” he added. Video Viral, Tito Karnavian: FPI Ormas Islam yang Sangat Toleran

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National Police Chief Pradopo, taking coffee with FPI’s sectarian fanatics

Top Cop Pradopo, Friend of Fanatics, Under Pressure from All Sides

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…but that’s not my purpose today.

Thing is, in this 90% Muslim country, Jokowi has picked a Christian, a Catholic, to be precise, and that has caused a lot of comment. 

What I’d like to look at is an article in Tempo by the Director of the Indonesia Intelligence Institute, Ridlwan Habib.

He says there are three groups hostile to the appointment, one of which fears his reputation as an honest cop, who would enforce the law strictly and indiscriminately.

Another is an intolerant group that plays the narrative of SARA. SARA here in Indonesia is an acronym that means playing on the differences between Indonesia’s many ethnic and religious groups to incite discord.

The third group consists of JI, JAD, and pro-ISIS factions, such as MIT. They justify taking the lives of police because they are considered ‘thaghut..’ “

https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1423769/wadah-pegawai-kpk-nilai-calon-kapolri-listyo-sigit-prabowo-sosok-reformis

Thatghut basically means ‘heathen,’ and, to savage scum like the terror gangs mentioned, it’s open season on anyone who’s ‘heathen!’

Obviously, that third group is a clear and present danger, but I find the second category more noisome. 

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Why on earth would anyone worry about how a cop worships God?

It’s firstly nobody’s business but his own, but if, as seems to be the case, he’s a good cop, he deserves the job, be he Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Confucian – those are Indonesia’s recognised creeds.

I’d say even if a man – or woman – were none of those, if he or she’s qualified, let him or her get on with it.

To any Islamopohobes who take issue, let me put forward a Canadian hypothesis.

Suppose you’re asked who you’d prefer a Prime Minister of Canada?

Two hypothetical choices. 

One, the current incumbent, Pretty Boy Turdo….

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Canada’s Enemy Within – Will Turdeau “Have To Look at The Root Causes?” 

….with his vile record of seeking excuses for dirty terrorist swine like the Boston Marathon Bombers…

…or Tarek Fateh, the best kind of Canadian!

A Muslim Voice of Reason .

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Tarek Fateh

 

…who also draws his share of SARA, in Ottawa.

“Arrogant, Mean-Spirited, Petty!” A Good Muslim Dissed By Bigots!

No Way This Dehumanising Existence Is ‘Normal!’

‘Let’s coexist with COVID-19’: Jokowi calls on residents to adapt to ‘new normal’

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/05/16/lets-coexist-with-covid-19-jokowi-calls-on-residents-to-adapt-to-new-normal.html

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Seriously, Pak President?

We, and I mean not just myself and the handful of resident foreigners I keep in touch with, but my valued Indonesian friends, have donned our masks and kept our distance, more or less, as required by the authorities.

But this is a temporary blip, in a process aimed at quelling the common enemy and the restoration of a life worth living.

 

Co-Exist with that Chinese Virus?

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Inure ourselves to an endless series of self-denying ordinances, declining hand-shakes with those closest to us, unwilling to exchange the kiss on the cheek, chaste or warm…

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…as we always have when we meet?

If that is a transitory hardship to be endured until the virus is vanquished, so be it.

The key word has to be ‘transitory!’

Let’s abhor that term ‘New Normal,’ for it may be new but it’s NOT ‘normal’ and never will be!

All the people I know are as bored as I am, despite our diversions, like running yardathons, trans-oceanic emailed pub quizzes, yes, and blogging!

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Boredom begets gloom.

We need to fight back against the moody blues and instead laugh and joke and remind each other of frivolity and pranks and flirtations!

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Focus on how much fun our genuinely normal lives were, should be and will be again!

Prabowo Faces Jakarta Post Quadrennial Gibbering!

And off we go again, an outstanding display of double-standards by the Jakarta Post, which re-hashed its long-winded explanation from four years ago on why it is anti-Prabowo and pro-Jokowi!

We are encouraged that one candidate [Jokowi] has displayed a factual record of rejecting faith-based politics. At the same time we are horrified that the other [Prabowo] affiliates himself with hard-line Islamic groups who would tear the secular nature of the country apart…    https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/04/09/we-may-ruin-our-incredible-democratic-achievements-since-1999.html

The Jakarta Post unequivocally deplores religious thugs who forward an intolerant agenda.  

Oh yeah?

How often does it get thus HORRIFIED at involvement with such unspeakable people?

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Has the JP a consistent record of being ‘HORRIFIED’ by people who collaborate with religious thugs who forward an intolerant agenda?

Regular readers here at RRA will remember the infamous Nazi-style book-burning in Jakarta, sponsored not only by the most backward Islamist fanatics…

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• Grovelling Gramedia’s Book–Burning Bonanza – Appeasing Fanatics 

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…but by Indonesia’s largest publishing empire, Gramedia, of which, last I heard, the Jakarta Post is part.

That was a Hitlerite atrocity against free expression.

If the Jakarta Post, even so late as this election eve, now condemns its Gramedia overlords, then perhaps they may be forgiven the sin of selective indignation.

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A Man Called Ahok – Film Bagus, Tetapi… –

I got off my idle butt this week and went to the movies. With so many films available on cable tv, and dvds, I don’t go to cinemas nearly as often as once I did.

But this was different.

 

http://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2018/11/10/a-man-called-ahok-journey-from-childhood-to-prominence.html?src=mostviewed&pg=news/world

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If you want a traditional film review, use the above JP link.

I went to watch today because I admire the subject of the film tremendously, a very good, very decent, very human and VERY unjustly treated man.

Most people here know that Ahok was the best City Governor that Jakarta has had in many, many years.

Some people hated him, ignorant Islamist street scum…

Jakarta Jew-Haters Boo Chinese Christian Candidate 

…and high-powered extremist ‘scholars’ wanted desperately to see him brought down…

Jokowi picks Ma’ruf Amin, key expert witness on Ahok’s blasphemy trial

http://singchamindonesia.com/jokowi-picks-maruf-amin-key-expert-witness-on-ahoks-blasphemy-trial/

…one of whom is very likely going to be Indonesia’s next Vice-President, chosen for that position by President Jokowi, who paradoxically had once been very happy to have Ahok as his running mate when Jokowi was running as a gubernatorial candidate in Jakarta.

Ahok ended up in prison under the benighted ‘blasphemy’ law, an outcome which did dreadful damage to Indonesia’s reputation as a pluralist democracy…

Slouching Towards Shariah, Indonesia Jails Ahok! 

Despite the sickening sight of Islamist fanatics howling for his blood, to the bitter end, it has to be said that Ahok held the loyalty of MANY decent Muslims.

Their courage can be measured by the intimidation they withstood, some of which was mentioned in a Jakarta Post report….

During the gubernatorial campaign, some mosques called on Muslims not to hold funeral prayers for deceased Muslims found to have supported Anies’ contender, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who is a Christian of Chinese ethnicity.   http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/11/22/city-to-hand-out-rp-1-6t-to-mass-organizations-religious-institutions.html

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So while it was a fascinating, well-made film, it was a shame it did not cover the Jakarta chapter of his life, except brief allusions thereto at the very start and very end.

I suppose an honest account of the events and their denouement might risk the movie-makers facing similar benighted ‘blasphemy’ charges, if they reported on the harmless quip which ignited bigot fury.

My other criticism involves the English translation of the dialogues, which appeared throughout the movie.

Surely it would not have cost much to get it done properly.

Heck, I would have done the job for free, which might have improved the fluency and grammatical quality.

So In West Java, Religious Liberty Is Now Conditional?

A few days ago we looked at the victims of sectarian injustice here in Indonesia, not all of them, by any means, but two congregations often covered in our blog, GKI Yasmin and HKBP Filadelfia.

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Barred by brutal ignoramuses in Bogor and evil savages in Bekasi, two cities in the Province of West Java…

Christ’s Ascension Day – Islamist Savages Pelt Congregation With Sewage, Urine and Rocks 

Head-Scarfed Harpies Hurl Dung and Urine at Christians 

X-Rated Xmas – Foul-Mouths Bully Christians, As ‘Moderate’Mayor Denies They Exist!’ 

…from their churches, they have worshipped on the street in Jakarta, across the road from the State Palace, in searing heat some days, in bucketing rain on others….

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The GKI people took their case all the way to the Supreme Court – and won!

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Jokowi

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But President Jokowi hasn’t ordered his police to enforce that judicial decree, so the oppression goes on.

Incidentally, a seat is always left reserved for the President on that pavement, by Christians who have heard his frequent boasts of Indonesia’s pluralism.

I have attended the services from time to time but Jokowi has never yet strolled the hundred yards from his palace to recognise their respectful loyalty.

Now, however, headlines in local media suggest light at the end of the tunnel of the torment.

Bima Arya And GKI Yasmin Agree to Build a Mosque next to the Church 

Bima Arya is Mayor of Bogor, touted as a ‘moderate’ when he replaced a rabid Islamist a couple of years ago, and many (me too!) innocently assumed he’d do the decent thing and remedy the injustices.

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Bima Arya

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But instead he declined to act, and – as in our linked story above – ‘Moderate’Mayor Denies They Exist!’  – he even stooped to denying the congregation’s existence, despite the fact we could all see them suffer on the street every second Sunday.

That first Christmas after Bima took over, his local goon-squad –  aka ‘civic militia,’ the SatPol PP –  showed their true colours, as one Christian on the scene reported – “We were pushed, cursed with foul language, and threatened,” he said. http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2014/12/25/214630883/Natal-Jemaat-GKI-Yasmin-Diganggu-Satpol-PP

Yet suddenly that mean mayor’s agreeing with his goons’ erstwhile victims, and freedom of religion may be restored in his benighted city?

I’ll believe it when I see it!

And even were it to come to pass, according to the report this week, it would be CONDITIONAL liberty  –

http://nusantara.rmol.co/read/2017/12/25/319646/Bima-Arya-Dan-GKI-Yasmin-Setuju-Bangun-Masjid-Bersebelahan-Gereja-

–  the congregation’s clear constitutional right to use their own church only tolerated if a mosque is constructed next door.

What a mockery!

As to HKBP, no news at all.

But that’s what I have long expected from Bekasi, a place infamous for its intolerance.

Bekasi intellectuals articulate deep philosophical objections to religious liberty

What Vexes Most – Sectarian Bullies, Jakarta Post or Bekasi Cops?

Cops Stop West Java Worship, Appease Islamist Louts 

Bekasi’s Islamist Regime – ‘We Won’t Allow Religious Liberty If Bigot Thugs Object!’ 

West Java Police v Pastor – Death-Threat Victim Charged with ‘Assault’ on Islamist! 

Bekasi Bigots V Religious Liberty, Again! 

Christians Abused by Islamist Mob, Cops Fail to Enforce the Law 

Islamists Lower Than Snakes’ Bellies – ‘Bury Your Own Dead If You Approve a Church!’ 

PKI Ban – A Good Precedent For HTI?

I see President Jokowi is talking about a remake of the famous film “Pengkhiatan G30S/PKI” about the attempted seizure of power by the PKI, the Indonesian Communist Party, in 1965.

http://jakartaglobe.id/news/jokowi-wants-remake-controversial-suharto-era-movie/

I have written about that episode before, more than once…

• Lest We Forget! The Communist Evil Indonesia Escaped..

…and rejoiced at the defeat of those foul reds, as do most Indonesians.

Most people here recognise that communists everywhere are totalitarian hypocrites, waxing loud and eloquent about workers’ rights, then eager to stomp workers’  – and everyone else’s – rights, as soon as they get their hands on the levers of power.

But I note that some has-beens, notably Amien Rais, here are ‘suspicious’ of the President’s motives.https://news.detik.com/berita/d-3653119/jokowi-ingin-film-g30spki-dibuat-gaya-milenial-amien-rais-curiga

Rais, an Islamist fanatic from way back…

When Laskar Jihad’s parent body Forum Kommunikasi Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’ah called a mass rally of Muslims at Jakarta’s Senayan Stadium in April 2000, the attendees included Amien Rais, leader of the Partai Amanat Nasional (National Mandate Party)  http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-02-161013.html.

If you don’t know what Laskar Jihad was, read our post-

Ex Laskar Jihad Murder-Gang ‘Commander’ – “We Must Love War!” 

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 …seems to want to link the existing ban on the PKI with Jokowi’s putative ban on the califascist gang called Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.

It’s not clear what the old Islamist thinks about HTI, but if Jokowi has in mind drawing a parallel between the two organisations, the President’s certainly got a point.

Like the Reds, the Hizbut hate-group is supranationalist, putting the idea of allegiance to a global caliphate above what should be every decent person’s first loyalty, to one’s own country.

They also detest democracy, quite openly, as in this demo placard…

Charlie Hebdo proves how rotten democracy is.

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…so a ban seems entirely rational and consistent with the principle established when the PKI was banned.

However, Jokowi has said he just wants the good old anti-communist movie revamped to suit younger viewers who might not otherwise relate to it.

Fair enough.

As long as the message, that communism is irredeemably evil, gets across, that’s what counts.

More on this before the anniversary, 30th September, of the failed Red kudeta.

Sarinah Attack – Terror Convict, Freed Early, Faces Charges!

In December 2010, Aman was sentenced to nine years in prison for funding a militant training camp in Aceh, a case which involved dozens of militants.

http://jakartaglobe.id/news/recidivist-convict-named-suspect-2016-sarinah-attack/

OKAY?

Got your junior high arithmetical skills assembled?

Read on!

In February 2005, he was sentenced to seven years in prison following explosions at his home in Depok, West Java. He was reportedly assembling bombs.

NINE PLUS SEVEN= WHAT?

I make it sixteen, so if he was jailed in 2005, he should have got out…FOUR YEARS from now?  Even if we skip the first 2005 sentence, if he got nine years in 2010, he ought still to be sitting in a cell somewhere, till 2019.

Did I get my sums right?

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Now we read of the third case against Aman Abdurrahman, who was released last Thursday after receiving remission to his nine-year jail term at a prison on Nusakambangan Island in Central Java…

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul told the media this week that “he stands accused of inciting the Thamrin attack and of being a conduit for funding it.”

We must now await the trial and the next sentence, if he’s found guilty.

But there are surely questions to be asked about why this sectarian fanatic was given remission.  Did he do anything to earn it? Did he give police useful info? Did he even express remorse, or repentance?

Maybe?

No, none of the above.

According to an earlier report in the JG, this ‘Islamist cleric’  ( yeah, ‘cleric!’) received a sentence remission on the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of Indonesia’s independence. 

So to celebrate freedom, you unleash a bitter foe of every freedom people value?

C’mon!

This example does make me think, though, that if the death penalty…

….exalted by President Jokowi for drugs-related offences, were imposed for all terror-related crimes, this kind of question would not need to be asked.

Indonesia’s Morning After – What’s MinahExit Mean?

A sudden flurry of reports about something we have frankly never heard of before, the Gerakan Referendum Minahasa.

That’s the Minahasa Referendum  Movement.

And Minahasa refers to the ethnic group, largely Christian by faith, and good soldiers by tradition, who live in North Sulawesi.

That’s also where the admirable protest took place against the arrival of an Islamist fanatic not long ago.

Manado Mayhem! Jakarta Post Flouts Its Own ‘Bold’ Motto? 

But it wasn’t till very recently that this GMR movement hit the headlines.

Again, it’s important to note the coincidence of its appearance with the shocking imprisonment of the Christian Governor of Jakarta on bizarre ‘blasphemy’ charges.

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No coincidence at all, really, because the driving force behind bringing Ahok to trial was an Islamist fanatic cabal, IslamoNazi FPI leaders in cahoots with the self-styled ‘scholars’ of the MUI.

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Indonesian Press Day,’ 9th Feb – Fake News? If Only! 

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Ahok behind bars symbolises the growing power of intolerance – if you can’t utter a quote from the Koran in public without risking draconian punishment, how many Christians, or Hindus, or Buddhists, can be expected to feel at ease in a society which thus degrades pluralism.

The thing people overseas need to remember is that while Indonesia may be the largest Muslim majority country in the world, it’s also home to significant minorities of non-Muslims.

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Bali, for example, is a Hindu island, while large Christian communities flourish in Ambon, North Sulawesi,Kalimatan (Borneo) and Sumatra ,where there are tough Bataks and a large Chinese ethnic minority in Medan. There’s also the Catholic island of Flores.

And even in Jakarta, up to 10% of the capital’s population may be Christian, Buddhist or other religions.

Sensible Indonesian leaders have always understood this and so religious tolerance was always not simply a moral focus but a recognition of how to keep the country together. That common-sense approach existed from the start, through Sukarno’s personality cult regime and Suharto’s dictatorship.

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General Suharto

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Now, however, fanatics have become a major influence in Indonesian politics. We have seen examples aplenty in recent years, outrageous intolerance against Buddhists…

Tanjung Balai’s Burning Temples – A History of Bigotry! 

…Hindus… Bali Hindu King – Don’t Kill Our Cows! Muslim ‘Scholars’ – Get Lost!!  …

….and of course Christians. Oppressed Christians In The Street Heat, In Pluralist Indonesia 

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Under President SBY a ferocious discriminatory diktat was issued, the anti-Ahmadiyah Tri-Ministerial Decree, and despite President Jokowi’s talk of pluralism, persecuted Christians in Bogor, Bekasi, etc have had no justice.

X-Rated Xmas – Foul-Mouths Bully Christians, As ‘Moderate’Mayor Denies They Exist!’ 

The imprisonment of Ahok for ‘blasphemy’ has confirmed for many people, not just religious minorities but decent Muslims, true Indonesian conservatives who cling to the traditional tolerance referred to above, that one day, in the not too distant future, they could rise from their beds to the waking nightmare of an Islamic Republic.

If that were to happen, then separatism could, would, be a serious threat.

Again, please note, Indonesia does not, like the UK, afford separatists all normal rights and privileges.

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SNP separatist leader Nicola Sturgeon

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If some local equivalent of that ghastly Scots shrew Sturgeon started shrilling for ‘independence’ for any province or island, she’d be charged with treason, and if convicted, she’d have some real problems to whine about.

In June 2007 in Ambon, these RMS political prisoners danced the Cakalele and raised the RMS flag in front of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono…

RMS Political Prisoners Reunite With Families After 7-Year Wait

Hardly surprising therefore that the local cops in Sulawesi were vigorously denying any sign of separatism, despite news photos clearly depicting referendum banners.

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http://news.metrotvnews.com/daerah/Rb1OZJ2K-kapolda-tak-ada-referendum-negara-minahasa

http://www.tribunnews.com/regional/2017/05/15/jangan-biarkan-sulut-terpecah-belah-lmp-sulut-tolak-isu-referendum-minahasa

But this ‘separatism,’ if separatism it is, is the inevitable consequence of Islamist intolerance. When decent folk of any religion see blood-thirsty fanatics treated as respectable notables by leading politicians, they recoil in disgust.

But when that disgust is compounded by the realisation that their fundamnetal right to worship as they please is therefore under  threat, and when their form of worship corresponds to their local cultural heritage…?

What else can the Government expect?

I am no supporter of separatism. How the people of Indonesia arrange their affairs is up to them, and from 1945 they have generally been quite gifted in working out ways to live together.

But I do hope, as somebody who has lived here happily for the best part of twenty years and has watched ever more sadly the rise of Islamist intolerance, that somebody in the corridors of power in Jakarta can, even at this eleventh hour, reverse the process of jihadist Arabisation.

Viva Pancasila!

 

Where’s ‘High Priest’ Rizieq? Pornography Case On Hold?

We have recently had to feature Habib Rizieq, acclaimed as ‘High Priest’ of the IslamoNazi FPI 9 self-styled “Islam Defenders’ Front”) quite often…

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FPI demo in Jakarta

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….due to his blood-curdling demand that Jakarta Governor Ahok, currently imprisoned for – believe it or not, in this 21st Century! – ‘blasphemy,’ (yes, seriously!) be processed for execution.

“We encourage the government to process the death penalty for Ahok as soon as possible,” said Rizieq.  http://www.suara.com/news/2016/10/14/134313/

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Rizieq, far left, happily sharing the stage with President Jokowi at an anti-Ahok rally

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Rizieq, with his rabid hero, Ba’asyir, who’s currently doing time for terror-links

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Now we see he’s back in the headlines again.

As a witness, Rizieq has twice evaded a police questioning for a pornography case allegedly involving him and a treason suspect, Firza Husein. 

The police first summoned Rizieq, Firza, Rizieq’s wife and a friend of Firza’s as witnesses on April 25. However, none of them showed up…the police summoned Rizieq again on May 8 for questioning scheduled on May 10.

Oh dear!

So what do the Police have to say?

Argo confirmed that Rizieq was still abroad, but refused to inform reporters about the latter’s exact whereabouts.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/05/12/police-to-detain-rizieq-for-evading-questioning-of-alleged-pornography-case.html

REFUSED?

Why won’t the cops reveal this mysterious absence?

What’s the big secret?

Where is he? 

Mike Pence’s (Somewhat Limited?) ‘Multi-Faith’ Experience!

Most of the media mentioned how America’s VP Mike Pence happily joined in a ‘multi-faith’ gathering in Jakarta, after visiting the huge Istiqlal mosque.

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Mike in the Mosque

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The actual ‘faiths’ included in the ‘multi-faith’ meet-up don’t seem to be identified, at least in the media I’ve looked at.

But I am led to wonder if Mr. Pence had a chance to talk to representatives of one particular faith, the peaceful and inoffensive Ahmadiyah.

They have been subjected to systematic discrimination, not only by dastardly Islamist bigot brutes…

• ==
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• Cowardly killers at Cikeusik
• Victim of Islamist Murder Mob Gets Six Months in the Slammer  Watch the video..   http://www.liveleak.com/view.– 

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…but also by local governments around the country…

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In Squalid Internal Exile, Lombok Ahmadis Denied Voting Rights 

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…AND by the Tri-Ministerial Decree… – .  http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/11/04/indonesia-uphold-religious-freedom  …a notorious diktat issued by the Government of Indonesia under the previous President, SBY.

Many of us expected, hoped at least, that when President Jokowi took over, he would annul the intolerant edict.

He hasn’t.

Did Mr. Pence’s Ambassador bring him up to speed with the persecution of these good citizens that began some years ago, reached a nadir at Cikeusik, when that mob of savages martyred three Ahmadis – nobody ever charged with murder – and continues today.

Jakarta This Week – Blameless Minority Creed Hounded Again! 

If Donald Trump’s V-P was properly informed on this shameful saga, one hopes he raised the issue at the ‘multi-faith’ meeting.

If Mike Pence was unaware, it’s time to fire a few embassy flunkeys.