Indonesia’s Intolerants Find New Excuse To Whine!

 Good news, mostly, for decent Indonesians, whose government has urged officials to stand up to mob pressure…

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…after Muslim and nationalist protesters called for a 30-meter-tall statue of a Chinese deity erected in a temple complex in an East Java town to be torn down.

This is refreshing, coming at a time when bigoted Islamists have been riding high after Jakarta’s Christian Governor Ahok was imprisoned for ‘blasphemy’ merely for quoting a Koranic verse.

So Has Indonesia Come To This? Paradise Lost? 

The statue of Guan Yu in Tuban, East Java, is said to be Southeast Asia’s tallest such representation of the deity. 

Bigoted ‘protestors,’ some wearing paramilitary-style outfits have been ranting that “We are not worshippers of idols”.

So?

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• Does anyone wish to make them ‘worship idols?’

Obviously not.

But of course they know that full well, just as we know that the real reason for their ranting is nasty sectarian hatred.

We’ve seen it before, in another Indonesian city, Tanjung Balai, in Sumatra, very far away from East Java.

Indonesia Inquisition Ministry Turns Guns Against Buddhists –Statue Downed at Islamist Behest 

The enemies of religious liberty there were equally up in arms about this statue…

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And that episode did not end well for the decent people in that neighbourhood.

It’s important, however, to note that there was another President then ruling from the National Palace in Jakarta.

So well said, Teten Masduki, chief of staff to President Jokowi, who spoke to the media last week.

“If they ask for the statue to be torn down, authorities cannot bow to such pressure.”

 http://jakartaglobe.id/news/statue-chinese-god-stokes-tension-muslim-majority-indonesia/.

Unfortunately, the Jakarta Globe fails to identify the sponsors of the intolerant rallies. A previous mealy-mouthed report would only say they were from ‘certain groups,’ a meaningless phrase but common enough here.

So let’s have them named and shamed!

Equally, unfortunately, the Tuban statue is currently shown in the media photo as partially covered, appeasement of the ignoramuses, it seems.

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President Jokowi would win widespread approval if he ordered his National Police Chief to get that fanatic shroud hauled down, and instal some well-armed cops around the scene, with orders to get stuck into any jihadist jerks who stick their bigot snouts in.

TransJakarta Busway – Dangerous After Dark? Jarang!

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Since I have criticised the TransJakarta Busway from time to time, with no notable result – they still too often move in convoys of three or four, and then have a long gap in services…

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 Fat piglet

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…and conductors still do not make fat piglet brats give up their seats to adults –  the report in the Jakarta Post this week obliges me, in fairness, to spring slowly to the busway’s defence.

It’s about what sounds like a ‘racially motivated’ incident, when ‘an ethnic Chinese man was racially taunted and assaulted on a Transjakarta bus.’

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/30/ethnic-chinese-man-called-ahok-attacked-bus.html

The alleged victim posted his story on Facebook, about what happened on a Transjakarta mid-evening bus between  Semanggi and Senayan bus stops.

A group of men in batik shirts boarded the bus and started to racially abuse him, calling him “Ahok”, the widely used nickname of the city’s first ethnic Chinese governor.

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 Ahok

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“I remember them saying to me: ‘choose between slanted eyes or closed eyes’ and ‘you are Ahok, right?,” The victim, Andrew, wisely did not take on the gang, three or four in number, but tried to brush them off. Then they  hit him and tried to drag him off the bus. Fortunately, some other passengers pulled him back into the bus.

The latter are good examples, representative of the decent majority of Indonesians, and the thugs are not typical of Jakartans at all.

There are sectarian louts in town…- 

Jakarta Jew-Haters Boo Chinese Christian Candidate 

 …and they all hate Ahok, who, despite the fact that he makes occasional misjudgements, is a pretty good governor.

But there aren’t that many sectarian hoodlums.

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Sectarian thugs in action – these were in Makassar, but they have comrades in the capital

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My best guess is that the hooligans were either drunk or part of that squalid jihadist minority. 

I often go home by bus if I have been to one of my frequent parties. I have never experienced nor seen such bad behaviour and so I hope this one-off incident will not deter others from using public transport. I reckon crimes like this occur jarang – rarely. 

At Rp.3500, compared to what a taxi home would cost ( between 50 and 100 thousand rupiah!) it’s a great deal, for all its small faults.

Strangely, neither the bus management nor the police admitted to having received a report from Andrew. He should do so, fast, if he hasn’t already.

If the assault was recorded, there’s a chance the villains can be apprehended, and so they should be!

We're Not Racist, Just Bigots – So…About That 'Chinese City?'

A rare source today, CNN Indonesia, which reported that the IslamoNazi FPI (self-styled ‘Islam Defenders Front ‘) is now claiming their hatred for Jakarta’s Acting Governor Ahok is not motivated by racism but by pure unsullied sectarian bigotry.

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• This sounds a trifle unlikely.
• It’s true that Islamist hate-freaks, similarly to normal Muslims  (please believe me, they are NOT synonymous – I welcome Muslim guests into my home at least once a week and when I go out to parties, I socialisee freely and happily with Muslims)  come in all the colours of the rainbow. And the same goes for Christians.
• There are plenty of Chinese Muslims here in Jakarta too – Ahok, of course, is a Christian.
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Nevertheless, let’s look at the background to this uproar, which has seen weekly demos, some of them violent (the IslamoNazis ran amok and injured over 20 cops last month outside City Hall) The demos are usually described as FPI but they work in tandem with another hate-group, the FUI, the Indonesian Muslim Front. 

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• FPI Deputy Secretary General, Awit Maschuri, insists that his white-shirt thug gang is not a racist organization…“If we were racist, we would be concerned about his Chinese ethnicity.” 

FPI: Kami Tak Rasis, yang Penting Islam!

“Just like the Balinese, who are not willing to be led by someone other than Hindus. It’s also important for us citizens of Jakarta to be led by a Muslim. Because in Jakarta most people are Muslims,” Awit said.

What an unpleasant fanatic he is! If we had a contest between an honest Musllim and a crooked Christian (there are plenty of both in Jakarta!) sane people of all creeds would vote for the former. But Alwi? He would prefer some deadbeat, dictatorial or corrupt person to honest Ahok, just because one goes to a mosque and the other to a church?

It’s inane.

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But let’s keep moving on.

You’ll recall that when Ahok was the Deputy Governor candidate, Jokowi’s running-mate, ignoramuses tried to shout him down?Ahok, however, received boos and taunts — including “Jew” and “Chinese” from his rival’s supporters. Ahok was forced to pause frequently and speak louder.

Jakarta Jew-Haters Boo Chinese Christian Candidate 

Now we cannot prove that those morons who were haranguing Ahok were FPI members, but it does show that racism is a factor in the oppositon to him.

But we don’t need to prove that the FUI is working hand in glove with the FPI in this controversy. It’s acknowledged by both groups.

And we know what their leader had to say – we published a post at the time.

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Islamist ‘Scholar’ in Racist Rant -“Ahok Anggap Jakarta Ini Sebuah Kota di Cina…” 

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Extract –

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 Ahok

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•  “Ahok’s aggressiveness and arrogance are weird. Like he reckons our Jakarta is a city in China, to such an extent he thinks he can go unchallenged..”http://www.suara-islam.com/read/index/8682/Jakarta-bukan-Kota-China–Kenapa-Ahok-Begitu-Agresif-

• I was prowling through the search engines, to see what the Nasties were up to, and I must admit, even I was shocked to find such a blatant racist outburst, even though from the blood-thirsty bigot Al Khathath, Secretary General of the FUI, Forum Umat Islam.
• He’s one of the most fanatical Islamists in the archipelago, a man with a Hizbut Tahrir background who, despite that record, currently  holds a senior position in the state-subsidised MUI, the Indonesian Council of Scholars. https://rossrightangle.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/incandescent-islamist-holds-forth-in-scholars-hq/

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 A city in China?

Al K could not have made it plainer. He could have picked any place in the world to illustrate Ahok’s ‘arrogance.’ Paris? Tunbridge Wells?

Westchester County in New York can be quite bad!

Birmingham’s a tad sniffy (joke!)

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But the FUI Fuhrer chose ‘a city in China,‘ surely as racist a jibe as he could conjure up.

There is LOTS of racist prejudice among pribumi here against the Chinese – and vice-versa, to be fair.

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Don’t think for a minute the Forces of Darkness would hesitate to exploit it.

Having said that, they are no doubt only saying what they really think.

Religious Liberty! Lukman Lights a Candle of Hope!

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Well, Hell’s Teeth!

I have long hoped for this news, but to read it, at last, makes this rainy evening seem bright.

The Religious Affairs Minister, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, comes from an Islamist party, the very same one, PPP, which spawned his predecessor, the oleaginous intolerant, Suryadharma Ali.

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 Lukman…

… NOT at all like Ali .

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But since Ali had to step down in a swirl of corruption allegations, Lukman has shown he’s a man of a very different sort. A good bloke, as I called him last Sunday, he’s now promised a new bill of rights for all faiths, even those which under President SBY were horribly persecuted…

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Lukman said the new bill would target the closures and attacks on churches and Shiite and Ahmadiyah mosques…

http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/minister-promises-bill-protect-religious-minorities/

The current law is a green light to sectarian bigots.

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One of the requirements stipulated in the joint decree is for applicants to get the signed approval for their house of worship from the heads of 60 neighboring households of a different faith.

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The difficulties experienced in getting these should not be simplistically ascribed to hatred or prejudice – in Bekasi, some years ago, it was learned that some vindictive clerics had told local Muslims to toe the line or they’d be denied funeral services for their kin!  

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/19/religious-mapping-dialogue-needed-end-spats-analysts.html

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 These Ahmadis were prevented from further prayers in their Depok, West Java, mosque by a simple step – the local authorities expropriated the whole building! Just like Communists, these sectarians!

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In Muslim majority Indonesia, Christian, Shiite and Ahmadi applicants have almost invariably failed to get the required number, while a few cases have been reported in parts of eastern Indonesia, which has a large Christian population, of Muslims not being allowed to build mosques.

And excellent news too that the package should include measures to help Shiite and Ahmadi communities being driven from their homes by mobs of Sunni Muslims — often with the support of the local police.

•  Koran burning – by Sunni savages in Cisalada, West Java (they also burned the Ahmadis’ mosque and homes)

• That’s the very issue I posted on earlier this evening, referring to the Lombok Ahmadis, but the Shia in Sampang suffered just as much.

But for all Lukman’ goodwill, he’s still showing a trace of unreality when he goes on to say his ministry would also work with local Islamic clerics — who are often instrumental in inciting hostilities against minority groups — to get them to embrace religious tolerance.

The JG journo is spot on with her comments on who’s usually to blame for intolerance and hostility. Indeed, many of the posts we’ve published on Islamist intolerance around Indonesia have had cause to mention the local chapters of the MUI.

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That’s the Council of self-styled ‘Scholars,’ who manifest intensely bigoted sentiments, sometimes verging on hysteria –

Islamist ‘Scholars’ – “Don’t Complain if You’re Attacked!” 

Twisted Java ‘Moderate’ Brackets Peaceful Minorities With Evil ISIS! 

Islamist ‘Scholars’ – “Atheists Get Out of Indonesia!” 

With Friends Like This Islamist ‘Moderate,’ Tolerance Needs Enemies? 

‘Moderate’ Muslim Leader To Journos- “Beware Counter-Islam!” 

The ‘Moderate’ View – Reporting Sectarian Violence to UN is ‘White-Collar Crime!

 

-and those strange men of the State-funded MUI are all too often working hand-in-glove with local cops.

Time to cut the subsidies, Pak Lukman?