Easter Militancy & Mayhem
Mar 24th, 2008, in News, by PatungEaster celebrations in Indonesia, a service in Bogor is broken up, mayhem in Atambua, everywhere else humdrum.
Illegal Service in Bogor
On the 22nd an Easter celebration at the Yohanes Baptista Catholic parish in Parung, Bogor, was broken up by a group of people claiming to be from a Muslim clerical organisation.
The 200-odd parishioners had set up a tent on the 6000 meter plot of land owned by the Catholic Church. No church building exists yet as the parish has been waiting six years for permission to build to be granted.
The priest, Emil Kleden, says he had received verbal permission to hold the service from the local government, and police and soldiers were on guard. Normally services are held at a private residence in nearby Lebak Wangi.
In order to avoid violence the congregation dispersed. tempo
Darwin Saragih of the Bogor regional parliament asked both groups to restrain themselves and he hoped the church would soon get its paperwork in order
It’s not enough to get verbal permission, they have to get written permission from the RT, RW, the village, the local council, and the regency government.
To avoid creating problems:
Obey the rules, only use proper houses of worship.
He advised the Muslim protestors to complain to the local government and not take things into their own hands. tempo
Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) leader Umar Shihab said the MUI had never instructed that the services of other religions should be broken up and his organisation did not tolerate violence or intimidation. tempo
“Bloody Easter” in Atambua
In Atambua, the capital of Belu regency in East Nusa Tenggara, near the border with East Timor, a gang of “drunken youths” were making a nuisance of themselves outside a church on the 22nd. One Paulino Lopes came out of the church and told them to be quiet. Later, as he was walking home from the Easter service the youths set upon him and beat him. He escaped, but, the following day the youths found him again and beat him to death with iron bars.
After this Lopes’ friends and family attacked the Motabuik area of town, where the youths lived, and in the general mayhem at least 20 houses were burned down. antara
It seems that the Lopes group are ex-residents of East Timor, while the others are native to the area. okezone
Everywhere Else
In case it is not immediately obvious, celebrations of Easter in the vast majority of churches in most places of Indonesia likely went ahead without incident.
27 Comments on “Easter Militancy & Mayhem”
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Lairedion says:
tomaculum,
And where are the other, good moslems? How much of them are agree with such deeds (deep n their heart)?
I’m quite sure there are some. But they also fear retaliation, violence and intimidation by True Muslims, the followers of the “religion of peace”.
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tomaculum says:
Lairedion,
there is a term: “moral courage“.
Honestly, I don’t have it, but I am a honest man: I’m a coward (and maybe I’m agree with it deeeeeepppp in my heart?) 🙂
I have wife and children to feed and I am afraid of pain …. ( 🙁 , common excuse, hmmm …..?). -
timdog says:
Just for once, just for a change, why don’t we focus on and discuss the SECOND PART of the above story? A story which appears to be about the kind of senseless violence and thuggery that crops up the world over, not least in Indonesia, and – MIRACLE OF MIRACLES! –
a) involves not Muslims but Christians (read it back and forth, can’t see any Muslims hiding in there), and
b) was an infinitely worse incident than what appears essentially to have been a planning dispute in Bogor… and…
c) has interesting echoes of the much-commented “Youth groups running amok” thread, though of course, without the Muslims….I’m sure their juxtaposition was a rare attempt here to create “balance” – a somewhat disingenuous attempt perhaps… inevitably though already the ball is rolling and the disgusted tut-tutting about the Bogor story has begun, and the more intriguing and disturbing story is ignored…
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timdog,
fact is that the moslems seem to have the freedom to do whatever they they want, as if they have jester’s license.
You’ve heard or read about some moslems being really persecuted?
I’m against the death sentence and am an agnostic, but when will they execute Imam Samudra?
And remember the case of Tibo cs.?
It isn’t a disgusted tut-tutting, perhaps it is just fear?
It is not only that there are some Christians are killed by a mob or something like that, but it is the problem that the so called democracy in Indonesia develops to a fake democracy and maybe to a dictatorship of a group ….. -
tomaculum,
It takes courage to admit your weaknesses so you’re not a coward.
timdog,
The incident in NTT on itself is worse since there’s a dead person involved but the one in Bogor is next to many other similar incidents where it is trendy for Muslims to take law into their own hands and deny the religious rights of the minorities while the authorities are watching on the sidelines or turning a blind eye.
As tomaculum said Indonesia is not a democracy but a tyranny of the majority.
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I just thought that had the NTT story appeared alone, without the utterly unrelated Bogor story, it might have been an oppertunity for a genuinely interesting discussion of a perhaps underdiscussed issue/issues: It’s well known that East Timor is a thoroughly traumatised nation, but the above story perhaps points to the less well known (and admittedly less extreme) trauma inflicted on the other half of the island. The story also flags up the pan-Indonesian issue of communal conflict between “races”, between “local” people and transmigrants or refugees – conflicts in which religion is often a secondary or incidental issue, or as in the case above, not an issue at all…
But, sadly, given that the NTT story was given second billing within the same post to something involving “bad” Muslims, yet again, there’s only one way that the thread can go – the same old same old about the way the demonic beardies are taking over/have taken over the country/destroyed the country (usually at the expense of the Christians) as if this is the ONLY issue in Indonesia that merits discussion.
I’m sure that even you will concede that this issue has been discussed here more than a few times already…
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dewaratugedeanom says:
Honestly, I don’t have it, but I am a honest man: I’m a coward (and maybe I’m agree with it deeeeeepppp in my heart?)
All wisdom is based on honesty but keep in mind that
“The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
(Albert Einstein) -
Deng Xiao Phing says:
“Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) leader Umar Shihab said the MUI had never instructed that the services of other religions should be broken up and his organisation did not tolerate violence or intimidation.”
Indon is the best place for those who either financially freak mind (corruptors) or spiritually corrupted mind (terrorist) because you can be above the law and soon the law will be syairah law anyway …
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Agusto says:
Dewa,
“The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
(Albert Einstein)What a wise word, but too bad there are more pc type of people nowadays.
Deng Xiao Phing,
What are you talking about:” spiritually corrupted mind (terrorist)”
Are you saying islam is corrupted? That is an insult to islam, “the religion of peace”!
Do you know what is the punishment in a full blown sharia country for that? Death sentence! -
ah well, so much for my futile hope…
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What are you talking about:” spiritually corrupted mind (terrorist)”
Are you saying islam is corrupted? That is an insult to islam, “the religion of peace”!
Whad did I say wrong ? you said it so & it is your veryown statement.
Did I say there is no Christian who spiritually corrupted mind ? pls prove it if there are any anyway …. lol … Christian amok in Aceh … have u heard about it ?
only the corrupted mind will do so -
diego says:
Deng Xiao Phing,
pull that stick out of your @ss, let your @ass take a fresh supply of oxygen, it’s good for your brain. have you ever the word “joke”?
i guess you’re just one of those fanatics, on the other side of the fence, the christians. equally looneys as the moslems.
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Dear Deng X,
You have said wrong when you humiliated the “religion of peace” no matter what. Christians do not go run amok, but they go run naked in acheh. They are already doomed for not submitting to our beloved pedoislamicmoh right from the start and worth beaheading, and Allah knows best.
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Sylvester says:
Islam = religion of peace?
Hard to believe if we see the news today or learn from history -
Patung – I really would like to reiterate to you the point I made above.
I said that the “balance” in the piece at the start of this thread was disingenuous; my reason for saying this is that, given the general nature of debate on this site you knew which of the two stories would generate discussion… given this I suspect that there was some expectation that after the usual stuff got going one of the handful of flaming liberal-islamophiles or defensive Muslims who pop up from time to time would latch onto the NTT story as a countering example of “Christian barbarism”, at which point all would descend still further into abusive, and ultimately pointless, bickering.As I said before, posted as separate stories the NNT incedent could have prompted an interesting – and new – discussion of the things I mentioned above: the trauma of West Timor, and the issue of communal strife between transmigrants/refugges and “locals” in which the potential “red herring” of religion is not an issue… of course, posted together, that was never going to happen, and my suspicion is that you knew this when you posted the piece.
Indonesia Matters is an interesting place; it could be a truly great discussion forum, but due to the fact that so many of the threads involve “debate” identical to that on this one – and worse still, that some of the initial posts seem deliberately designed to ensure that only monotone “debate” of this kind ensues – it’s not, not quite…
I’m sorry. -
Riyoz says:
“ah well, so much for my futile hope”¦”
yup, quite hopeless isn’t it :)….
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timdog said
I’m sure their juxtaposition was a rare attempt here to create “balance” – a somewhat disingenuous attempt perhaps”¦ inevitably though already the ball is rolling and the disgusted tut-tutting about the Bogor story has begun, and the more intriguing and disturbing story is ignored”¦
Paranoia strikes again.
@Patung
Next time put the bad stories involving Christians up front in order to create an even balance and spare the feelings of those poor innocent Muslims who are always the victims of violence and intimidation. -
dewa’, you have missed my point altogether… read my above post addressed to Patung… That what happened in Atambua happened to involve Christians is completely irrelevant – religion had nothing to do with it, and the event is absolutely no reflection on Christianity – they might as well have been Hindus, Animists, Jews or Muslims.
What it did have to do with was the fact that the border regions of West Timor, like the new nation to the east, suffer from a kind of collective post-traumatic stress disorder, and that conflict in this nation arises in many places bewteen incomers and the “original” inhabitants… Interesting points worthy of discussion…
I merely suggested that it might be interesting to discuss that rather than going off into the usual Indonesia Matters shrieking (look back at the various earlier posts on this thread – honestly, has anyone said anything offering any particular insight, new information, or even a structured argument? Not really).
However, it seems that doing that has been enough to be interpretted as an attack on Christianity, and a piece of apologia for the evils of Islam…
capek-deh…
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Religions are dangerous and often fatal diseases for a community.
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Cukurungan says:
dewa’, you have missed my point altogether”¦ read my above post addressed to Patung
Your choice of word is not good and it content an insult to the less fortunate one because every human has own brain capacity just like a Cup, there is a small Cup and Big Cup so do not pour the water for a big cup to a small cup it will be spill over and wasted..
Brother again I strongly remind you please be careful with you choice word and never insult the less fortunate person.
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@timdog
dewa’, you have missed my point altogether”¦ read my above post addressed to Patung”¦ That what happened in Atambua happened to involve Christians is completely irrelevant – religion had nothing to do with it, and the event is absolutely no reflection on Christianity – they might as well have been Hindus, Animists, Jews or Muslims.
Then Patung should have left out the Atuamba incident entirely. I agree that it has no relevance whatsoever. Brawls caused by drunkenness with fatal consequences occur everyday all over the world. But he only gave an account of what happened in Indonesia and in the last paragraph he mentioned
Everywhere Else
In case it is not immediately obvious, celebrations of Easter in the vast majority of churches in most places of Indonesia likely went ahead without incident.
which I interpret as a very positive evaluation.
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Agusto
“The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
(Albert Einstein)What a wise word, but too bad there are more pc type of people nowadays.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At least the internet has allowed for a new kind of battleground: intellect versus intellect, bits against bytes, much to the dismay of Islamist fanatics because they cannot retaliate with what they excel in i.e. physical mob violence.
The jihad of the sword has turned into a jihad of the keyboard and it remains to be seen if they can handle their brains as well as their muscles.
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Dear Dewa,
Ok, I know what you meant. Good luck and be careful.
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HItam TApi CIna says:
Same old hat,
What you all saw is typical in a country which practices fake rule of law.
It has nothing to do with religion.Whoever has broken the law which in these cases inflicted harm to others in a violent way or disrupted religious harmony, should be arrested and trialed in a court of law and then punished accordingly.
You will most likely not see anyone convicted by any court in Indonesia for both incidence you have been talking about. Why? because there is no money in it and nobody cares that much to sue the perpetrators.
All because the government is very corrupt and the majority is very well uneducated to the bottom level of poverty that they don’t care.
Put it this way.
Corruption = fake rule of law
Fake law enforcement = fake democracy = fake religious harmony
Fake harmony = violence against minorityand guys, regarding violence and riots in Indonesia:
It’s not the matter of IF but WHEN it will recur.Why? Because life is going to get harder in the near future. The world economic recession is knocking on the door.
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and guys, regarding violence and riots in Indonesia:
It’s not the matter of IF but WHEN it will recur.Well, according to historical pattern, in every 10 years there were big riots in Indon, don’t count the daily smaller ones that were neglectful piece of cake. The last one was 1998, the next one ……… coming soon brother !
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regarding violence and riots in Indonesia:
It’s not the matter of IF but WHEN it will recur.the last big riot was 1998, according our history the pattern always repeat every 10 years, without counting the smaller size riots (in Indon there are small, medium, large and extra large of riots – you can order one), you bet the next one will be around the corner. I will be surprise if there will be no riot again until end of yr 2009. This round because our gov’t bankcrupt because oil price will be at $130/barrel next year, then Rph denomination and u know the next story …. amok
Comment on “Easter Militancy & Mayhem”.
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Same old song….
“Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) leader Umar Shihab said the MUI had never instructed that the services of other religions should be broken up and his organisation did not tolerate violence or intimidation.”
And what have they done? Released a fatwa to throw those people out of the community or something like that (in Christianity such people can be excommunicated. A useful instrument, isn’t it? 🙂 )
To avoid creating problems:Obey the rules, only use proper houses of worship.”
In other words: let you be repressed for the shake of the satisfaction of some moslems (but the problem is: they will always find something to baa! Maybe the next time if some christ make the sign of the cross in public places? Or if a christ screams: “Oh, jeepers!”?).
And where are the other, good moslems? How much of them are agree with such deeds (deep n their heart)?
“In case it is not immediately obvious, celebrations of Easter in the vast majority of churches in most places of Indonesia likely went ahead without incident.”
Very, very becalming, eh, Patung? 🙂
I’m sure there will be some intelligent comments in this blog …. I’m looking forward form it. 🙂