“Lake Toba and the surrounding region is home to the country’s largest Christian ethnic minority group, the Batak.” But now the provincial governor of North Sumatra, Edy Rahmayadi, has proposed making the area attractive to Muslim tourists, via “halal tourism.” “Ideas included introducing halal certification for restaurants and building more mosques.” This means an abrupt […]
Moderate Indonesia: Islamic State jihadi stabs Security Minister
Why was Indonesia’s much-celebrated moderate Islam not able for the perpetrator in this case to withstand the appeal of the Islamic State’s twisted, hijacked version? “Suspected ISIS Terrorist Stabs Indonesian Security Minister,” Agence France-Presse, October 10, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): A suspected ISIS radical stabbed Indonesia’s chief security minister as he was […]
Indonesia: Three couples publicly flogged for un-Islamic public affection
What fun the Sharia enforcers are going to have in Europe. “Couples flogged for public affection in Indonesia’s Aceh,” AFP, September 19, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): A trio of canoodling couples were publicly flogged in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday, charged with breaking local Islamic law that outlaws public displays of affection. […]
Indonesia: Millions risk jail as sex outside of marriage is criminalized
There has an Islamic revival sweeping Indonesia. So-called “born-again” Muslims are driving social change, as well as the economy. Sharia is fast becoming the center of every aspect of Indonesian life, featuring Muslim-targeted housing, Sharia banking and a soaring demand for halal food. Invariably, with Islamic revival come the abuses that go hand-in-hand with it. […]
Indonesia: “Born-again” Muslims driving social changes, encouraging Muslim-targeted housing and Sharia banking
In “moderate” Indonesia, Sharia is fast becoming the center of every aspect of life, thanks to the efforts of so-called “born again Muslims” who are shifting the country’s economy to ground it in “conservative Islam.” One “born again Muslim,” Arie Untung, states: “We have become some sort of like endorsers, the endorsers of Allah.” Indonesian […]
Moderate Indonesia: Muslim marries his two girlfriends at once “so nobody gets hurt”
Of course. Polygamy is allowed in the Qur’an (4:3). Thus for a believing and informed Muslim there can be no dissent from this. The fact that it reduces women to commodities and has been a source of untold misery over the centuries is immaterial. “Man marries his two girlfriends at once ‘so nobody gets hurt,’” […]
Indonesia: Muslim cleric says cross is of the devil, interfaith activists urge Christians, not Muslims, to keep calm
“And their saying, ‘Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but another was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of […]
Indonesia: 14 men, including a Buddhist, flogged with a cane for relationships with women
Apologists for Sharia in the West routinely insist that it doesn’t apply to non-Muslims. They should explain that to this Buddhist. “Aceh, love affairs contrary to sharia: 14 young men flogged in seven days,” by Mathias Hariyadi, Asia News, August 6, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Flogged because they had […]
Indonesia: After sex abuse scandal in Islamic boarding school, girls required to wear face veils
“In mid-July, the male head of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in the ultraconservative province of Aceh, as well as one of the school’s male teachers, were arrested by police for allegedly sexually assaulting 15 of the school’s male students.” The abuse was against male students, and caused such a scandal that the pesantren was […]
Indonesia: Husband, wife jihad suicide bombers underwent government-sponsored deradicalization program
“An Indonesian husband and wife who had taken part in a government-sponsored deradicalization program are believed to be the masterminds of a suicide bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines earlier this year that killed more than 20 people.” 102 others were injured. This is striking, since Indonesia’s Minister of Justice and […]