Dallasnews.Com, 09:12 AM CDT on Friday, September 22, 2006
March of Jihad: Washington needs to keep an eye on Indonesia
Remember the names Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus Silva. They
were Christian farmers from Indonesia executed by firing squad yesterday for
purportedly instigating deadly Christian-Muslim violence in 2000.
They went to their deaths proclaiming their innocence. Amnesty International and
other human rights groups condemned their trial as a travesty of justice. Many call it
an apparent sop by the government of the world's most populous Muslim nation to
radicals who are angry over the imminent execution of three jihadists convicted of the
2002 Bali nightclub bombings.
The march of jihad continues apace in Indonesia, a fragile Muslim democracy of 240
million people and a strategically vital American ally. For years, Laskar Jihad - one of
several terror groups active in Indonesia - has been running a campaign of ethnic
cleansing against the native Christian population - burning villages, bombing churches,
slaughtering thousands and turning 100,000 Christians into refugees.
Last year, the U.S. State Department placed Indonesia on a "watch list" because of
the increase in religious violence targeting Christians and other religious minorities, as
well as against moderate Muslims - violence the Jakarta government is unable or
unwilling to stop.
Radical Muslim groups are tightening the noose on Indonesia's fragile democracy,
using violence and demagoguery to erode the secular constitution in favor of
theocracy. The country's moderate Muslim majority is under increased pressure from
the hard-liners, who have succeeded in imposing sharia law in Aceh province and are
pushing for the same in other provinces. Taliban-style religious police now patrol
Aceh, violently enforcing sharia.
Jakarta cracked down on terror groups after the Bali bombings but has been less
effective in publicizing the wider threat. And it has been too tolerant of jihadist attacks
on Christians and other religious minorities, which terror groups use as a means of
recruitment in their long-term struggle to establish a hard-line state.
Far from defusing conflict with extremists, Jakarta only strengthened the jihadists by
allowing yesterday's unjust executions.
Washington should send that message to its friends in Jakarta and let them know
that America is watching.
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co
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