Islamist hardliners are using violent talk about the 'Christianisation' of Bekasi, amid rising interfaith tensions in the city. Nine Islamic groups meeting in this West Javan city have reportedly joined forces in a campaign to prepare local mosques to 'wage war' on the growing Christian influence in the city. The group is recommending that each local mosque should form its own laskar or 'paramilitary unit' to enforce Sharia laws or strict Islamic practices on local Muslims – and insisting that the Bekasi administration's policymaking should reflect this code. Hardliners say they are reacting to what they see as a concerted attempt by the church to extend its reach in Bekasi, a commuter city for Jakarta. Mass baptisms of Christians who were raised as Muslims are cited as a particular issue for concern. Church leaders are now calling on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to defend the Christian minority in the face of mounting intimidation. Pray: against moves to revive religious tensions in a nation still recovering from conflict fuelled by jihadists. (Ps.55:9)
The Muslim majority province of Aceh is led by Zaini Abdullah. He has based his political fortune on the ‘full application’ of sharia. Jakarta demands the governor respect religious plurality; meanwhile Christian leaders are denouncing violence and persecution by the Islamic community. Seventeen house churches and Catholic chapels have been closed recently and many believe the forced closure of places of worship and threats against Protestant congregations will only create tensions manipulated from the outside between the Christian and Islamic communities. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world and, while guaranteeing the constitutional principles of religious freedom, it is more and more often the scene of attacks and violence against minorities - whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or of other faiths. Despite this, the Christian church in Indonesia has grown rapidly in the last 20 years.
Pray: for the government to guarantee religious plurality and respect and pray against clashes and violence. (Ps.7:6)
Indonesia: closure of 17 churches
25 May 2012The election of Zaini Abdullah, a hard-line Islamic governor of the militant Aceh Party in Indonesia's Aceh Province has opened the way for a crack-down on the minority Christian community. Seventeen churches were sealed shut in early May. Emboldened by the election result hundreds of Islamists demanded that area church buildings not only be sealed, but also demolished. Christian leaders said that applications for Church permits are routinely delayed or denied and the sealing demands were based on a debatable agreement that Christians were forced to sign in 2001, mandating only one church and four chapels in the regency. The number had grown to 22. Of the 17 churches closed 11 belong to the Protestant Christian Church of Pakpak Dairi. The mob demanded the demolition of church buildings and an acting regent agreed to the demand with the police chief supporting him, saying the time for dialogue was past.
Pray: for God to build His Church,and bring to maturity a myriad of Christian communities in Aceh Province.(Ps.119:86)
More: http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/indonesia/article_1541045.html
Divine Word Bishop Hilarius Moa Nurak of Pangkalpinang has urged Chinese Indonesians in Bangka-Belitung province to free up some of their ‘busy time’ and play a more active part in Church life. Many Catholic Chinese Indonesians are business people with a ‘time is money’ way of thinking. As such they are often busy which prevents them from being active in Church life, particularly in their own basic ecclesiastical communities’, the prelate said during a Mass on Monday at St Peter Church in Lubuk Baja, Batam, to celebrate Chinese New Year. ‘Some think they are taking part in Church life by donating money,’ he said, adding that although the Church does need money it does not mean money can replace physical participation. According to the diocese, some 18,000 out of a total of 45,000 Catholics are living in the diocese are of Chinese descent. The rest are from various other ethnic groups.
Pray: that the church and all believers would work together using their gifts in building the kingdom. (1Cor:12-13)
More: http://www.ucanews.com/2012/01/24/church-wants-more-chinese-participation/
Indonesia: Church leaders attacked
21 Sep 2010
The Sunday morning attack on the Rev Luspida Simandjunktak and church elder Hasean Lumbantoruan Sihombing left the former with a concussion and the latter with a knife wound to the liver. According to eyewitness reports, a gang of about seven riding on motorcycles ambushed the two church leaders. After stabbing Sihombing and striking Simandjunktak on the head with a wooden plank, the attackers fled the scene. Both church leaders were then rushed to Mitra Keluarga Hospital in East Bekasi for treatment. Following the attack, Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, immediately called on authorities to investigate and hold accountable those responsible. Yudhoyono has been widely criticized in the media for failing to crack down on Islamic hard-liners, who were immediately suspected of carrying out Sunday's attacks. While most people in Indonesia practice a moderate form of Islam and abhor violence, attacks on religious freedom by hard-liners have been steadily increasing. Pray: for God’s protection around His people and for the government to have success over hard-liners. (Ps.32:7)
Indonesia: Church defies authorities
29 Sep 2010
Dozens of Christians have defied police and threats of attack from Muslim groups to hold prayers inside their boarded-up church near the Indonesian capital. The group held their Sunday service surrounded by hundreds of police and security guards saying they had as much right as any Indonesian to worship in the Muslim-majority country. Local officials used bullhorns to remind members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church that they were banned from the site following an attack last week by suspected Muslim activists on two church leaders. (See Prayer Alert 3810) ‘We just want to carry out our obligations as Christians but authorities are treating us like terrorists.’ said Advent Tambunan a member of the congregation. A local leader of the Islamic Defenders' Front, which has led calls for the Christians to leave was among 10 people detained by the police after last week's attack. Pray: for the wave of Christian revival in Indonesia to grow and overwhelm the darkness. (Is.60:1) More: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/09/201091944922621312.html
Indonesia: Church attacked by suicide bomber
04 Oct 2011A suicide bomber attacked a church packed with hundreds of worshippers in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia, on Sunday, killing himself and wounding at least 20 other people. The church is one of Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren’s sister churches and the pastor posted a notice on his Facebook page reading, ‘Purpose Driven Network Alert - Our sister church in Solo City, Indonesia, Bethel Full Gospel Church, has just been bombed.’ A Muslim suicide bomber, whose identity has not been revealed, was responsible for the attack. The site also says some news reports indicate 27 people were injured in the blast - one critically. Others put the number as high as 30 people. Indonesia’s President called the attack ‘terrorism.’ The city of Solo is also radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir's hometown. Bashir is considered the spiritual leader for the group that killed more than 200 people in Bali in 2002, according to media reports.
Pray: for spiritual, physical, and emotional protection for the millions of Indonesian Christians. (Mal.4:2)
Mainly Christian islands are at the heart of the three-fold disaster of earthquake, tsunami and volcanic eruption that have killed hundreds and displaced thousands in Indonesia this week. A 7.7 magnitude undersea earthquake triggered the three-metre high tsunami, which pounded the Mentawai Islands, off the coast of West Sumatra, on Monday evening. The following day Mount Merapi on the island of Java erupted, spewing out clouds of ash and jets of searing gas. The combined death toll has topped 300 with over 400 missing and tens of thousands displaced as homes were destroyed. Pray: thet the aid agencies and authorities would be enabled to bring speedy relief to those in desperate need.