Christianity Today Magazine, April 2003
Religious Cleansing
What you can do to help persecuted Christians in Indonesia
By Jeff M. Sellers | posted 04/15/2003
A strange thing happened in Indonesia last fall: The armed Islamic extremists who
terrorized churches on the Maluku and Sulawesi islands for nearly three years
suddenly left.
Their stated reason for leaving: They had completed their mission of ridding the areas
of Christians. Maluku was once 40.5 percent Christian; Sulawesi, 16.4 percent.
"They're done with religious cleansing there," says Paul Marshall, senior fellow at
Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom. "There are refugees who have fled,
and there are refugees who have been driven out of their villages but are starting to
move back."
The well-armed militias have left 88,700 people from Maluku and Sulawesi as
refugees, according to Connie Snyder of International Christian Concern.
In all, since 1999 Muslim extremists reportedly displaced 600,000 Christians in
Indonesia, though many of those have returned. Thus the "religious cleansing" was
neither total nor permanent.
Threats remain on the Indonesian archipelago, which is 80 percent Muslim and 16
percent Christian. Most of the Laskar Jihad extremists returned to their native Java,
from which they plan to launch assaults on other islands. At least 3,000 Islamic
extremists have amassed in West Papua (Irian Jaya)—a 73 percent Christian region
that Laskar Jihad has declared as its next target.
Additionally, Laskar Jihad and the Islamic Defenders Front left the locals in Maluku
and Sulawesi better armed and trained to fight returning Christians. Since conflict
broke out in 1998, local mobs have destroyed more than 600 churches.
Marshall says the absence of the Islamic militias in Maluku and Sulawesi, though,
should enable inhabitants to build peace on 2001 agreements. "Agreements have
been reached before," he says, "and it was more the outsider groups that refused to
go along with them."
Asian intelligence officials suspect links between Laskar Jihad and international
terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
Some observers believe such links led to Laskar Jihad's return to Java just days after
the bombing of a Bali nightclub last Oct. 12. Laskar Jihad had enjoyed support from
some of the Indonesian security forces, which began to erode after the Bali bombing.
The attack at the Bali nightclub killed 190 people. The group reportedly behind the
attack, Jemaah Islamiyah, was also implicated in church bombings that killed 19
people on Christmas Eve 2000.
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Suggested Action
The departure of Laskar Jihad and the Islamic Defenders Front from Maluku and
Sulawesi provides a rare opportunity to offer positive encouragement to the
government.
In those provinces, Indonesian officials must ensure the security needed for
Christian-Muslim reconciliation and relief efforts for refugees. Christian-
Muslim conflict was the pretext for the Islamic extremist groups invading the islands;
their goal was to restore peace by wiping out the Christians.
Write Indonesian officials, expressing gratitude for the steps the government has
taken to broker peace agreements and fight terrorism. Encourage them to undertake
security, resettlement, and reconciliation efforts in Sulawesi and Maluku, and to
protect West Papua Christians against Islamic militias.
Amb. Soemadi D. M. Brotodiningrat
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
2020 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: 202.775.5365
President Megawati Soekarnoputri
Istana Merdeka
Jakarta 10110
Indonesia
To support refugee resettlement efforts, call or send checks marked "Resettling
Indonesian refugees" to:
International Christian Concern
2020 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.,
No. 941
Washington, DC 20006
1.800.422.5441
Pray for the safety of Indonesian Christians in the face of some continued mob
attacks on churches, and for a return of their once peaceful coexistence with
Muslims.
Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
April, 2003, Vol. 47, No. 4, Page 98
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