Subj: Indonesia: Removing enticements to apostasy.

-------------------------------------------- INDONESIA: REMOVING ENTICEMENTS TO APOSTASY --------------------------------------------

On 1 September 2005, Indonesian judges in Harguelis, Indramayu district, West Java, sentenced Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday School program. They were charged under the Child Protection Act of 2002, of "Christianisation" of Muslim children (introducing Christianity to Muslim children), which hard-line clerics regard as enticement to apostasy. The Flash News release from Compass Direct is copied beneath this short posting.

The trial has coincided with fresh moves by the hard-line Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI: Indonesia's most senior body of Islamic clerics), to counter conversions to Christianity. (Link 1)

The MUI's anti-Christian rhetoric, their recent 11-point fatwa which bans liberalism, secularism and pluralism as un-Islamic, and the trial against the three women, have fueled the zeal of the Alliance of the Anti Apostasy Movement (AGAP). AGAP-aligned militants have subsequently stepped up their aggressive campaign to close churches, particularly in West Java.

This escalation of intolerant, extremist ideology and militant activity has split Indonesia's Muslim community. Former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is president of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has rejected the MUI fatwa and issued a strong condemnation of the recent violence against Christians and their churches. (The NU is the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia and boasts more than 40 million members.) (Link 2)

Indonesia's Democratic Education Association (P2D) slammed the MUI fatwas as "unconstitutional" and urged the government to uphold the concepts of nationhood and democracy by protecting and guaranteeing people's constitutional rights. They urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration "to be proactive in maintaining pluralism instead of bowing to the fatwas". (Jakarta Post 2 August)

Islamic scholar Azyumardi Azra, rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), condemned the forced church closures carried out by the Islamic Defenders Front (a right wing Muslim organization which is part of the AGAP). "The group has taken the law into their own hands and they have to be punished in line with the law," he said (Jakarta Post 25 August). Azyumardi has also noted that the MUI fatwa has the potential to divide not only Muslim from non-Muslim, but also Muslims themselves.

Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun will appeal the court's decision. This will truly be a watershed moment for Indonesia. The appeal will provide the government and higher courts with an opportunity to clarify constitutional rights, condemn religious persecution, and make a stand for justice, in line with the will of the majority. Moral conviction and courage will be required to resist the easy option of appeasement.

The appeal should also ensure that religious liberty (as defined in Article 18 of the UDHR: link 3) becomes a subject of wide and open debate, as it presently is in Malaysia. Hopefully more voices will be raised for the protection of religious liberty in Indonesia, and much good might eventually come from all this pain. Meanwhile we pray for God to protect these women and redeem their suffering, so that what was meant for evil will result in good, for the glory of God.

Elizabeth Kendal

Links

1) Christian inroads worry top Indonesia Muslim body Reuters, 28 July 2005 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK263779.htm

2) Gus Dur: "No more attacks against Christians" by Mathias Hariyadi, 23 August 2005 http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=3962

3) Universal Declaration of Human Rights http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/

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Indonesian Sunday School Teachers Sentenced to Three Years in Prison - Islamic extremists again threaten violence before court session.

by Sarah Page for Compass Direct.

DUBLIN, September 1 (Compass) -- Indonesian judges today sentenced three women to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday school program.

Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun received the sentence after judges found them guilty of violating the Child Protection Act of 2002, which forbids "deception, lies or enticement" causing a child to convert to another religion. The maximum sentence for violation of the Act is five years in prison and a fine of 100 million rupiah ($10,226).

The Sunday school teachers had instructed the children to get permission from their parents before attending the program, and those who did not have permission were asked to go home, according to Jeff Hammond of Bless Indonesia Today, a Christian foundation operating out of Jakarta. None of the children had converted to Christianity.

When the verdict was announced at 11 a.m. local time, the courtroom crowd erupted with shouts of "Allahu akbar" ("God is great"). The women plan to appeal the conviction.

A source who spoke with Zakaria by phone as the three women were waiting to be taken into the courtroom for the verdict said she was calm and confident. Zakaria said the situation did not look hopeful but that some day, "in God's time," all three women would "walk free from the prison."

The three women, described by friends as "ordinary housewives," were relieved that they had not been given the maximum five-year prison sentence. All three, however, were devastated at the prospect of being separated from their children, who range from 6 to 19 years of age.

As they have done throughout the trial, Islamic extremists made murderous threats both inside and outside the courtroom. Hammond said several truckloads of extremists arrived; one brought a coffin to bury the accused if they were found innocent.

"The ladies, witnesses and judges were constantly under the threats of violence from hundreds of Islamic radicals who threatened to kill the three ladies, witnesses, pastors, missionaries and even the judges if the women were acquitted," Hammond told Compass. Before a court proceeding on August 25, the Islamic radicals warned the judges that they were willing to shed their own blood if the women were not found guilty.

Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom, said the case could establish a dangerous precedent. "It's especially troubling and worrisome since it occurred in Indonesia, a country long known for its relative religious freedom," Marshall said. "If it signifies the future direction of the country, the consequences will be terrible."

Zakaria, Pangesti and Bangun were arrested on May 13 after members of the local Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI or Muslim Clerics council) discovered that Muslim children were attending a Christian education program run by the women. Some of the children had asked for and received Bibles.

Defense attorneys pointed out that several of the Muslim parents had been photographed with their children during the Sunday school activities, proof that they had permitted their children to attend. When Muslim leaders lodged a complaint, however, the parents refused to testify in support of the women.

No witnesses, defense attorneys had told the court, testified or provided evidence of the charges that the women had lied, deceived, or forced the children into change their religion. Also, they said, witnesses who testified against the women had no first-hand knowledge of the educational program and were speaking from hearsay.

The "Happy Sunday" program was established to meet legal requirements for a local elementary school.

Zakaria, who pastors the Christian Church of David's Camp in Harguelis, Indramayu district, West Java, was approached by the school in August 2003 and asked to provide a Christian education program for Christian students, in line with the National Education System Bill that came into effect in June of that year.

The women launched the program in September 2003. It proved popular, and Muslim children soon began to attend with the verbal consent of their parents.

Church Closures

Since the first accusations were made, Muslim authorities in West Java have forced Zakaria's church to close. Muslim leaders have forced at least 60 unlicensed churches in West Java to shut down over the past year, with minimal intervention from the government.

A spike in church closures during the Indramayu trial has drawn coverage in the national press. An article in The Jakarta Post on August 31 quoted Police Chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani, who said police would protect licensed churches from forcible closure. The police would, however, uphold a 1969 ministerial decree that required all houses of worship to obtain a permit from local authorities.

The Post also quoted the Minister of Home Affairs, M. Ma'ruf, who said the government planned to review the controversial decree as it was "no longer relevant."

An editorial in the same newspaper said the forced closure of churches had reached an alarming level, and the government seemed to have no political will to uphold freedom of religion as guaranteed in the constitution.

The writer concluded, "It is time now to stop pretending that Indonesia is a perfect model for religious tolerance ... the people of this nation are less tolerant now toward differences in religion."

END

Copyright 2005 Compass Direct

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