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Indonesian pro-polygamy groups are not only facing protest from angry housewives and women's rights activists; a new group of men calling themselves the Men’s Coalition against Polygamy (Kolmi) has also joined the struggle. Kolmi spokesman Abdul Hamim Fauzie said via a statement in the capital Jakarta on Sunday that the coalition considered the practice of polygamous marriage degrading, not only to women, but to men as well.
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The leader of the Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Abu Bakar Bashir, was almost forced to leave a village near the city of Serang in West Java early this morning. Some fifty residents of Kaujon village visited the residence of Mamah Suhaemi, a former leader of the Mujahidin Council of Indonesia, where Bashir spent the night.
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Women wearing jeans and other trousers in the regency of West Aceh, in North Sumatra, will have to face the regional Sharia police. Vendors of trousers for women will also have to close down. The regent for West Aceh, Ramli, has issued the new controversial Islamic regulation yesterday. People who disobey, will be forced to wear loose-fitting attire when Sharia police cuts their trousers.
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The newly inaugurated members of the legislative council in Aceh are planning on revising the sharia 'stoning'-bylaw recently passed by - now - former legislators. That law allows people that commit adultery to be stoned to death in the province. The turn-around is remarkable, but does more resemble the wishes of the people in the province than enacting such Islamic regulations in the first place.
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After over 300 people became member of the movement in several countries, the polygamy-movement from Malaysia has now spread it's wings over Indonesia as well. Earlier this week, a meeting was held in Bandung which was the start of the movement in Indonesia. There were some 150 people from various parts in Indonesia present.
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The city council in Gorontalo, in northern Sulawesi, has ordered its Muslim civil servants to read the Koran - Islam's holy book - every Friday. Gorontalo mayor Adhan Dambea said Saturday that he was not yet satisfied with the implementation of his instructions.
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Iyan Nurmansyah, living in Oxford in the United Kingdom wrote an opinion on the website of The Jakarta post last week. I will just copy the reaction below. He seems to point at the exact problems Indonesia is facing; corruption, religion and ignorant people. Speaks for itself I suppose.
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The city of Depok has already committed itself to closing down all karaoke in the regency, but has yet to forcefully close those outlets that have not been closed yet. They were given a weeks time to do so. The head of the civil police Satpol PP in the city of Depok explained that warning letters had already been sent earlier ordering all karaoke to close down within a week.
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A series of attacks on followers of the Ahmadiyah religious sect in Indonesia has once again drawn criticism, with an expert in religion and democracy urging the government to exercise its authority when there are violations of human rights.
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An Indonesian court has acquitted controversial Muslim cleric Pujiono Cahyo Widianto over child sexual molestation charges for marrying an underage girl, aged 12 last year. Widianto risked up to 15 years in jail, had he been convicted of the charges. Prosecutors said they would appeal the court ruling. The girl is his second wife.
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For days members of the well-known masked white-robed Islamists of Front Pembela Islam ('Islamic Defenders Front') held demonstrations against a comedy film which is currently being produced because one of it's actors - Japanese porn star Maria 'Miyabi' Ozawa - has a leading roll, allthough not naked at all.
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In a new show of pure discrimination dozens of supporters of several Islamic movements protested against the installation of a non-Islamic leader of the regional government, the DPRD, in the regency of Tangerang. The demonstrators wanted to force their way into the building of the regional government but failed.
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In another huge step backwards, the regional government of Aceh, in the northern tip of Sumatra, has accepted the new - far more strict - Islamic laws. The ones now in place just tell people how to dress and obliges Muslems to pray, but the laws now accepted include a prison term of eight years for just being gay and being stoned to death if you decided to have sex with someone else then your spouse.
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The most strict Islamic region in Indonesia, the westernmost tip of the island of Sumatra, is to adopt a much stricter form of Islamic law than the one now in place. Married adulterers will be stoned to death in the new law, which will make Indonesia look like a complete fool if the law is eventually allowed to be adopted by the central government.
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A joint prayer among Chinese Indonesians and members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which is the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia, was held in the Tay Kak Sie Temple in Semarang yesterday to pray for the health of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur. The dual prayers were lead by Haksu Bing Buana Jaya and Muhammad Munif Zuhri.
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The head of the FPI (Front Pembela Islam, 'Islamic Defenders Front') has said that the current Cipta Kondisi operation held by the police during the holy month of Ramadan is provocative. Habib Rizieq Shihab said that the operation by the police was like terrorism and intimidate religious persons like in the time of Suharto. "It violates human rights and the constitution," he said in an SMS while he was in Samarinda, Kalimantan.
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One of the most well-known and renowned xenophobic persons in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, has reacted in horror to the news that Israel is said to have opened a trading office in Indonesia, Jakarta to be more exact. Bashir has demanded that president Yudhoyono 'expels those Zionists from Indonesia'.
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Health ministers in the Arab world have decided not to allow elderly, children and ill from going on the Muslim pilgrimage later this year. It is a preventive measure to stop the spread of the H1N1 Mexican Flu virus that has killed some 900 people worldwide since March this year. The virus is easy to spread, but does not kill at a high rate.
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As we all know, many Indonesians like to have a beer or some other alcohol sometimes. And why not? It is their right to choose whether they want to have a nice cold beer, a cocktail or some other drink containing alcohol. Even if they are Muslim because it is not up to a state or institution to decide whether people from a certain religion can not drink alcohol.
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They did it again. After they managed to get some 500 percent duty in all imported liquor - a draconian measure that is currently killing people daily, but 'religion above everything' seems to be the motto of the MUI - they now managed to stop beef imports from New Zealand all together. Some imports from Australia have been banned as well. This means a big part of the 70.000 tonnes of beef will not be imported anymore.
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Indonesia, the biggest Muslim country in the world, has banned imports of all beef from New Zealand and some of beef from Australia which does not meet religious certification, Indonesian Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono said Friday.
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Muslim clerics in Indonesia's East Java province Friday banned the faithful from gossiping and flirting on social networking websites such as Facebook and Friendster. The clerics also urged Facebook and Friendster to curb what they called "lewd and pornographic" content and warned that they would request the government to block the sites if their call went unheeded.
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Residents and tourists on the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali on Thursday celebrated the annual Day of Silence, a Hindu New Year observance during which the island shuts down and people are banned from the streets. The New Year, called Nyepi, is one of the most important religious events for Balinese Hindus, and this year, they welcomed the Saka New Year of 1931.
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Police arrested a Muslim cleric in Indonesia's Central Java province for marrying a 12-year-old girl in violation of the country's child-protection law, an officer said Wednesday. Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, revealed in August that he had taken the girl as a second wife in a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony, sparking criticism from child-protection groups.
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Indonesia's most powerful Islamic scholars weren't looking for a debate when they handed down their latest fatwas on how to be a good Muslim. But they still got an argument and, perhaps worse, a chorus of "Who cares?" after decreeing that it is haram, or forbidden, to smoke in public, or for children and pregnant women to have a puff of tobacco anywhere.
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Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono joined a public gathering to celebrate the Chinese lantern festival in the Jakarta Expo Center here on Friday. Yudhoyono said at the event that the public should stand united despite pluralistic differences that might disrupt the country's harmony. "Pluralism should instead become a basis to develop culture and creative economy," he said.
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He encouraged spouse-swopping and wild orgies, and gave sermons in his underpants. On a news website, police are said to describe him as looking 'cool... just like youngsters nowadays', with dyed brown hair and fair skin. But he's no love guru. He is the leader of a deviant sect in Indonesia.
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Indonesian clerics have gathered to debate whether Muslims in the nation of 235 million should be banned from smoking. A decision by the top Islamic body to issue a fatwa, or religious ruling, could help shape government policy in one of the world's largest tobacco markets.
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Indonesian Christians have celebrated Christmas in a smooth and peaceful way across the country, with tight security measures in place ensuring no major incidents occurred. Christmas celebrations in some cities of the largest Muslim country from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning ran smoothly, peacefully and solemnly without any security disturbances, local press reported on Friday.
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The plan of religious leader Abu Bakar Ba'ashir to bring a visit to Lumajang has caused a strong reaction from local Muslims. They reject the arrival of the Muslem cleric from Solo. They say that a majority of the people in Lumajang will feel uneasy with a visit from him. "We strongly are against a visit of Abu Bakar Ba'ashir to Lumajang," said Abdurrohim, one of the Islamic leaders from the Tompokersan sub-district in Lumajang.
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The Islamic Council of Scholars in Indonesia (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, or just MUI) will decide about the fatwa about smoking early next year. They are to decide whether smoking is allowed or has to be banned by the Islamic scholars. They can also decide not to choose a direction however. A high percentage of Indonesians smoke, and however many are Muslem, it is doubtful it will actually change the habit of many.
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A leader of a Islamic boarding school (Pondok Pesantren) is accused of raping two of his students and is currently in a police cell in the district of Malang. The leader, only known as N.H., was arrested by the regional police of Malang in a rented house in Pare, in the district of Kediri. N.H. is also the leader of a boarding school in the village Kaumrejo, sub-district Ngantang in the district of Malang. There he has allegedly raped two of his students. The two girls, both 17, are from the village of Ngawensari, sub-district Ringin Anom, district Kendal in Central Java.
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With the adoption of the 'anti-pornography' laws yesterday, Indonesia is approaching more and more the ideal image of a remote province of the Middle East. With adopting the law, which has been pushed forward by the radical-Islamic FPI (Islamic Defenders Front) and the MUI (Council of Islamic Scholars) for almost a decade now, it is now possible to act on your own when you see something that is not acceptable for you. In most countries that would be called 'taking matters into your own hands', but not anymore in Indonesia, where a young democracy is buried under a thick layer of radical-Islamic mud.
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The construction of the highest Chinese pagoda in Indonesia at the Kwan Sing Bio temple in Tuban, eastern Java, has started earlier this week. A representative of the Department of Religious Affairs, Joko Wuryanto, laid the first stone for the pagoda which is to cost some 17 billion Rupiah (1.18 million euro). "The pagoda will have nine levels and it will also function as a tourist attraction," said Wuryanto in a speech. He also inaugurated the construction of a four story 20 x 89 meter building with a value of 8 billion Rupiah (560.000 euro).
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The department of Religious Affairs in Indonesia has formally set the price of the hajj pilgrimage for this year. The price will be some 450 US dollar higher than last year, which translates into a hike of 5 million Rupiah, or 20 percent. The hike in prices is mostly caused by the higher cost of flying because of high world oil prices. The Minister of Religious Affairs, Maftuh Basyuni, said that the price of the pilgrimage is decided upon by presidential decree.
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Dozens of members of the FPI (Front Pembela Islam) have demonstrated in front of the regional representative office of Ahmadiyah in Makassar earlier today. They asked the government to release a presidential decree about the Ahmadiyah sect because it is said to have stained Islam.
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The head of the Ahmadiyah, Paninggilan Gunawan Ahmad, does not agree with the words of Abu Bakar Bashir that members of the Ahmadiyah movement should not be allowed to have identity cards that state that they are Islamic. He said that the "leader of the Koranic school in Ngruki is a crazy person. A mad man talking." According to Ahmad, decisions like this should always originate from the government so people should not take it serious at all.
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Supporters of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation clashed with Muslim hard-liners following a bloody attack on interfaith activists by the radicals. One person was injured in the brawl late yesterday between members of Nahdhatul Ulama and hard-liners from the Islamic Defenders Front in Yogyakarta on Java island. Angry crowds have gathered outside offices and homes of the FPI in two other towns on Java in recent days.
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Muslims have stormed a church in Indonesia to force it to close down, a resident and police said on Thursday, in the latest incident of religious intolerance in the archipelago nation. The attack in West Java on Tuesday came after a series of similar incidents targeting churches set up in Muslim areas of the province. "Four people have been detained for questioning and are currently in custody," Purwakarta district police First Inspector Yadi said.
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Indonesia's Attorney General has banned a controversial Islamic sect from practising in the country. But the government has stopped short of disbanding the Ahmadiyah sect altogether.
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Hardline Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has compared tourists to "worms, snakes, maggots" and called for signs to be placed in Muslim areas warning them to dress modestly, a report said Monday. The preacher made the comments in a speech to an Islamic youth organisation in east Java in October. "Worms, snakes, maggots - those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel tourists. They are naked," he said.
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Indonesia on Friday warned a Dutch lawmaker not to release an anti-Islam film which could destroy interfaith harmony, the country foreign ministry said here. Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who heads the Freedom Party, will release his short film this month, which he says will depict the Koran as a 'fascist book', despite mounting protests and disagreement from the Dutch government.
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The normally vibrant Indonesian tourist destination of Bali came to a standstill Friday as the island's Hindu majority celebrated the start of the Hindu new year. The Day of Silence, known here as Nyepi, saw Balinese confined to their homes, unable to work, play and - for some - even talk or eat.
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On that day the Balinese celebrate New Year or Nyepi - the Balinese equivalent of the word for silence. This is a day the Balinese Hindus dedicate to quiet introspection and spiritual cleansing.
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The provincial administration of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) is still processing a draft ordinance (Qanun) on theft - this particular one is popularly known as the 'hand-severance qanun'. In order to make it more acceptable from the human rights point of view, the provincial sharia official said. "The draft hand-severance qanun is now still in the making. We are also waiting for more inputs from the public on its substance," Al Yasa Abubakar, head of the provincial administration's Islamic Sharia Service, said on Saturday.
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The mostly Hindu island of Bali was preparing for the Day of Silence today, ushering the Hindu New year. Households were performing rites to purify the soul and cleanse individuals from past sins, while young men were finishing their huge papier-mache effigies of demons that will be used for parades in the streets after dusk to ward off evil. Each village will have their own noisy parade, known as Ogoh-Ogoh, before they are burned before sunrise to symbolize all evil leaving the island just before the new year.
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The Indonesian haj probe team said Saturday it had collected information from various sources in Saudi Arabia and got a hint of the cause of the haj food supply shortage recently.
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An International Forum for Islamic Parliaments (IFIP) meeting attending by Moslem members of parliament from 28 countries will be held in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, on January 18 to 21. A declaration on peaceful reform for a better future would be issued by the participants at the final session of the meeting, Antara news agency quoted steering committee chairman Irwan Prayitno as saying here on Tuesday.
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Indonesian haj pilgrims need an integrated lodging complex or Indonesian Town in Mecca to give better services to them, Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Salim Segaf Al Jufri has said. The Indonesian ambassador made the reamrk in a press release available at the Religious Affairs Ministry`s Haj Media Centre here Sunday.
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A total of 431 Indonesian Hajj pilgrims died in the Holy Land until late Monday (Jan 8) at 10 p.m. Saudi time, according to information from the Hajj Media Center of the Indonesian Religious Affairs Ministry on Tuesday. Up to Sunday (Jan 7), about 404,569 Hajj pilgrims from various countries left Saudi Arabia via the Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah and the Prince Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz Airport in Madina.
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Millions of Indonesian Muslims, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, First Lady Mme. Ani Yudhoyono, and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, performed Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice) prayers for the 1427 Hegira under cloudy skies and rains at mosques throughout the country on Sunday morning.
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For those recently heaping praise on Indonesia for its moderate Muslim and emerging democratic credentials, consider the case of Islamic preacher Yusman Roy. Last year Roy was sentenced to two years in prison on blasphemy charges for leading Muslim prayers at an East Java Islamic school in his native Bahasa Indonesia rather than Arabic as conservative religious councils require. In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, the language issue pitches modern, liberal interpretations of Islam, known broadly here as abangan, against conservative orthodox views, represented broadly as santri.
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Thieves could have their hands amputated in Indonesia's Aceh province under a proposed Islamic law that may alarm rights activists and Western governments. The draft law was published Tuesday in an advertisement in Aceh's Serambi newspaper that was paid for by the agency responsible for implementing Islamic Shariah law in the tsunami-ravaged province, which only recently emerged from decades of civil war.
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Only through dialogue can stereotypes such as Westerners regarding Islam as "a breeding ground for terrorists" and Muslims seeing the West as "deficient in morals" be removed, an Indonesian minister said on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told a conference on Islam and Europe that such inaccurate, sweeping generalisations existed in both communities because media and other sources failed to present the complete picture of those cultures.
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Indonesia’s House of Representatives and government have agreed to continue listing one’s religion on identity cards. Members of different faiths have criticized the agreement as a violation of fundamental human rights and myopic political opportunism.
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Gay and lesbian groups were demanding that the Indonesian government revoke local ordinances inspired by Islamic law that they claim violate their human and constitutional rights, a news report said Tuesday. The Association of Jakarta Transvestites; Arus Pelangi, a gay advocacy group; and the Srikandi Foundation, a women's advocacy group, appealed to the Justice and Human Rights Ministry to immediately strike down the ordinances, The Jakarta Post reported.
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The suppression of religious freedom in this predominantly Muslim nation continues in West Java, where dozens of churches and places of worship have been forcibly closed by Muslim extremists over the past year. A mob of around 50 people attempted Saturday to demolish a house they claimed was being used illegally by Christians as a place of worship in the hamlet of Cibintinu, Arjasari village, some 20 kilometers south of Bandung.
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Women and the poor are experiencing unfair treatment due to overzealous enforcement of sharia bylaws in Nanggroe Aceh Darusssalam, an influential think tank said. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday that haphazardly recruited, poorly disciplined and inadequately supervised sharia police were practicing a form of moral vigilantism that singled out women and the poor.
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Two people in Indonesia's province of Aceh have been caned for adultery under Islamic sharia law. The punishment was handed down to a 23-year-old widow and a 35-year-old married man, according to Tengku Marnus Labsyar, Head of the South Aceh Sharia's office.
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A militant Islamic group has filed a police report against Indonesia's Miss Universe candidate accusing her of indecency, a lawyer for the organization said on Tuesday.
Nadine Chandrawinata's participation in the contest and display of her body in a swimsuit there "is actually insulting for Indonesian dignity and women", Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) attorney Sugito told Reuters.
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Tangerang is firmly in the spotlight after the issuance of a controversial bylaw to eradicate prostitution in the municipality. It also issued another bylaw that bans liquor. Syafi'i Anwar, executive director of the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), shared his views with Ridwan Max Sijabat >on what is happening in the region.
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The government insisted Tuesday that Muslims and non-Muslims alike in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam should be tried by the planned Islamic Court in the predominantly Muslim province. State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra told the special committee deliberating a bill on the province's administration that non-Muslims accused of committing ordinary crimes, such as theft and adultery, would be tried under the sharia-inspired bylaws (qanun).
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The Bali administration will close all access to the island March 30 when Hindus -- the majority of Bali's population -- mark the annual Day of Silence, an official said. "Tourists are not allowed to enter Bali during the Day of Silence to allow Hindu followers to pray solemnly," said provincial administration spokesman I Gusti Agung Mayun in Denpasar.
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Islamic conservatism is a growing force to be reckoned with across the country, with research indicating about 40 percent of citizens would support the replacement of state laws with sharia and one in 10 consider suicide bombings justified in some circumstances. A survey conducted in late January by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found 40 percent of respondents approved of adulterers being stoned to death, 34 percent did not want to see another female president and 40 percent accepted polygamy.
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Dewi Haryanti was in a hurry. The 25-year-old was exchanging her hotel waitress uniform for street clothes for the trip to her second job at a boutique she owns with her sisters in the capital of Indonesia's tsunami-torn Aceh province.
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The Home Affairs Ministry will review regional bylaws amid the issuance of sharia-based regulations by several administrations, which critics say impinge on the rights of minorities. "We have asked local administrations to send their regional bylaws for evaluation," Home Affairs Minister M. Ma'ruf confirmed Monday. The review process would also involve other related ministries, he added.
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Padang Mayor Fauzi Bahar dismisses concerns about his mayoralty's gradual enactment of sharia, arguing that Islamic law is beneficial to development because it makes people more devout. Fauzi told The Jakarta Post it was the duty of the state to encourage people to live according to religious teachings, not to prevent it.
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The recent research conducted by the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP), the Indonesian Islamic Boarding School Association (BKSPPI) and AusAID, in which I was involved, shows that many pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), both traditional (salaf) and modern, in West Java reject pluralism as they perceive this as an acceptance of the relativity of religion -- or rejecting the notion that Islam is the absolute truth.
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Indonesian Islam will remain moderate and tolerant by and large, but problems and challenges will continue to exist. The future of Indonesia depends on the ways in which the government and various Muslim groups actually act in public life. While violence, discrimination, and grievances are still felt among the minorities, especially non-Muslims, the Muslim majority continue maintaining the tolerant, moderate character of the country. A small number of hard-liners and terrorists will be disproportionately influential, but the tolerant, moderate majority and the government will not be silent.
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There is no danger that Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, will be turned into an Islamic state. One reason for this is that most Indonesians practice a moderate strain of Islam and are tolerant of different religions. Another reason is that the nation's founding fathers, who included charismatic Muslim leaders and ulema, never wanted Indonesia to be an Islamic state.
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Thousands of Muslims from across Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, departed Thursday for Saudi Arabia on the annual hajj pilgrimage. Minister of Religious Affairs Muhammad Maftuh Basyuni waved off 445 pilgrims, all dressed in white robes and with their passports hung on string around their necks, from a special Hajj Terminal at Jakarta's Sukarno-Hatta Airport.
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Some of the moderate and liberal Muslims (I consider myself as part of this group) often charge that hard-liners, jihadists, terrorists and suicide bombers are not true believers. The jihadist and terrorists are more aptly called deviant Muslims, people with a fallacious understanding of Islam. We also blame their activities as tarnishing the name of Islam and harming its reputation before the hallmark of modern civilization. Their interpretation of Islam is also said to be destroying the religion's fundamental and truest mission. This is what we have to say about them.
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The Cianjur regency administration in West Java has officially banned the teachings of Ahmadiyah, more than week after hard-liners vandalized the mosques and houses of the Ahmadiyah Congregation in the area.
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Vice President Jusuf Kalla asked Muslim militants to stop closing Christian churches after Christians complained that militants had shut 23 churches in recent weeks on the island of Java. "It is the responsibility of all of us to stop such kind of violence," he told a gathering of Muslim leaders, urging them to promote tolerance.
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has stressed the right to religious freedom in Indonesia and called on citizens to help prevent violence against any faith. Yudhoyono, according to his spokesman Andi Mallarangeng, called on all ranks of the government and the community 'to prevent violence agains religious worship activities.'
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Christians are making worrying inroads in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, delegates said at a meeting of the nation's top Islamic clerical group, the Jakarta Post newspaper said on Thursday. It said the clerics told the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), during the meeting in Jakarta that Christians were expanding their presence in the provinces, and in the capital itself.
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Bank Niaga, in which Malaysia's Commerce Asset-Holding Bhd (CAHB) has a majority stake, yesterday launched its syariah operation to tap the vast Islamic-based banking potential in the country. CAHB director Dr Rozali Mohamed Ali said at the launching that the syariah operations would be carried out in five of Bank Niaga branches in Jakarta this year before expanding to its other branches in several cities throughout the country.
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Indonesia's Island of Gods, Bali, on Sunday showed no sign of life as its predominantly Hindu population observed a holy day of silence and purification to usher in the Hindu New Year. On "Nyepi", the day of silence, Hindus are prohibited from lighting fires and using lights, working, leaving their houses and from making any noise. Local tradition has it that the silence tricks demons returning to earth into believing that there is nobody left to haunt.
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Travellers caught kissing in public in Indonesia could face five years in jail. A new anti-pornography bill proposes a ban on "kissing on the mouth in public" and on "public nudity, erotic dances and sex parties". The suggested jail terms for these offences range from three to 10 years. Passionate kissing could carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison or a 250 million rupiah (£16,000) fine. Indecent exposure or watching sex shows would attract a similar punishment.
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A half-man, half-beast, dubbed the "kolor ijo" or "green underpants", has been blamed for stalking Jakarta's outskirts, attacking people with its claws and raping lone women.
Terrified residents set up special kolor ijo patrol squads, while others draped their homes in magic talismans to ward off the creature.
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Recent violence in Central Sulawesi highlights the nature and gravity of the terrorist threat in Indonesia. Analysis suggests that while the shorter-term prospects are somewhat encouraging, there is an under-appreciated, longer-term security risk.
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Indonesia is to deploy more than two-thirds of its quarter of a million-strong police force over Christmas and New Year to prevent a repeat of the wave of Christmas Eve bombings that killed 19 people three years ago. Antara news agency says the national police chief Da'i Bachtiar has pledged to co-operate with local christian church officials to make Christmas and New Year celebrations peaceful.
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Indonesia's highest Islamic authority has said Muslim law forbids terrorism and suicide bombings, but that jihad, or holy war, is a religious obligation if Islam is under attack. The Indonesian Ulama Council deputy chairman Din Syamsudin said yesterday that it had issued an edict on the issue late on Tuesday.
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Over the last three decades, marriages between couples of different religions have generally sparked controversy as the state does not recognize inter-religious marriage.
A graphic designer with a foreign advertising company said he "converted" to Islam and the next day his Muslim girlfriend took an oath before a priest in a Catholic church to officiate their marriage.
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Christian organisations may face curbs on preaching and people of different religions could be banned from marrying under laws being considered by Indonesia. With an eye on next year's elections, where Islamic-affiliated parties are expected to drain support from President Megawati Sukarnoputri's bid to retain office, hardline Muslim groups are drafting laws to combat Christianity's spread in the world's largest Muslim country.
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It has been announced the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will start in Indonesia on Monday. Indonesia's religious affairs minister, Said Agil Husin Al Munawar, has been quoted as saying that a weekend meeting of religious experts decided on the day after the sighting of the new moon. The governor of the capital Jakarta, Sutiyoso, has ordered most of the city's nightclubs, bars, discos, saunas, and massage parlours closed for the month.
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Crowded around the dusty courtyard of a conservative Islamic boarding school in Indonesia's East Java province, the 20 fresh-faced students hang on their fiery principal's every word. It was God who gave permission for the bomb blasts that tore apart two nightclubs on Bali island a year ago killing 202 people, said Zakaria, calling the bars a sinful "hell" on earth. Some of the suspected bombers were his friends and taught here at the al-Islam school, added the bearded preacher, before steering the conversation to his hatred toward the United States.
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An attack on Iraq by the United States and Australia would be a golden opportunity for radical fundamentalists in Indonesia and other Muslim countries to expand their support, the leader of Indonesia's biggest Islamic organisation has warned. Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the 40-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama, said a Western war on Iraq would undo all the good done by a joint campaign by all faiths in Indonesia to reduce religious tensions after the Bali bombing.
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Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has come up with its own brand of kretek cigarettes in an attempt to cash in on the industry's good business. The Tali Jagat ('rope of the universe') kretek hit the market last week after it was launched in the town of Pasuruan, East Java. Mr H. Sulaiman, the head of NU's Sirkah Muawwanah cooperative in Pasuruan, was quoted by Radar Bromo daily as saying: 'NU has a lot of members in Pasuruan. That is why we chose to launch the cigarettes there.'
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Women in miniskirts gyrate in all-night discotheques, where designer drugs circulate as freely as alcohol. Friday, the Islamic sabbath, is a regular work day. Pork is widely available in restaurants and supermarkets. These and other violations of Islamic law - or sharia - are the norm in Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic country, where secularism has long held sway in national legislation. Although some religious parties asked for sharia law to be included among a set of constitutional amendments adopted Saturday by lawmakers, the measure was dropped because of overwhelming opposition within the national legislature.
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One of Indonesia's leading Muslim organisations has warned the United States not to launch an attack on Iraq, saying it had no moral grounds to do so, the Jakarta Post reported on Saturday. The U.S. is debating an attack on Iraq to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein, seen as a threat over efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. "I don't see that the planned attack will be a popular move for the country because the U.S. doesn't have the moral ground to attack other countries, even if they are accused of terrorism," the Post quoted Muhammadiyah Chairman Syafii Maarif as saying.
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Muslim groups are upping the pressure on lawmakers here to introduce Islamic law in the country, with thousands taking to the streets in several cities yesterday calling for the Syariah to be incorporated in the Constitution. In Jakarta, members and supporters of 10 Muslim groups were led by clerics, including terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir, to the National Assembly (MPR), where they urged legislators to amend the Constitution and make Islamic law applicable to all Muslims. The groups were backed by Vice-President Hamzah Haz, who earlier in the day praised their movement in a speech marking the fourth anniversary of the radical Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI).
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Brawls, robbery, and drug abuse are offenses now commonly committed by students. And some teachers in West Jakarta are now hoping that forcing students to wear religious attire and perform various rituals might be a quick solution to the chronic problems. "We make a good program in line with the West Jakarta mayor's instructions to oblige students to wear Muslim attire and perform religious rituals to strengthen their faithfulness and morality," said Ali Arsyad, the principal of state junior high school SMP 229 in Kebon Jeruk on Thursday.
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The Hindu Day of Silence, known locally as Nyepi, is when the vast Hindu majority on the picturesque resort island seclude themselves at home and refrain from making any noise. Hotels will have skeleton staff on duty in Indonesia's premier tourist spot, 1,000 km (625 miles) east of Jakarta, and according to custom candles will replace lamps in guest rooms.
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West Java Regional Police have arrested at least 17 suspected members of Negara Islam Indonesia Region-9 (NII KW-9), which is said to have planned to establish an Islamic state in the country. Central Bandung Police precinct chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Irianto said here on Monday that they were arrested last Sunday in Jl. Sukarajin III No.18 in Central Bandung at 7:30 p.m.
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I was recently asked to address a conference in Seoul, Korea, organized around the theme of developing a culture of peace. Naturally, it fell to me to present an Islamic perspective on developing a culture of peace. My response was to explain that if we want to understand what Islam has to teach us about civilization, society and relations between communities, it is important that we consider the broad range of its rich intellectual heritage.
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The Aceh provincial administration will soon set up religious police to help effectively enforce Islamic syariah law in the rebellious province, a local senior official said on Tuesday. "The establishment of the religious police is aimed at intensifying the implementation of the Islamic law in Aceh," provincial administration secretary Tanthawi Ishaq was quoted by Antara as saying to journalists in Banda Aceh.
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As part of the Islamic syariah law being implemented in the restive province of Aceh, beauty salons, barber shops and hotel businessmen must ban their workers and customers from wearing non-Islamic dress.
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Three years ago, Kadir Faizal commanded great respect on the waterfront. Nobody cared that the Muslim leader of the longshoreman's union was married to a Christian and lived in her neighborhood. But now, Faizal is an infidel in the eyes of his Muslim colleagues at the harbor.
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In August last year, U.S. intelligence agents learned that Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist network had obtained a highly detailed, hand-drawn map of the U.S. diplomatic compound here.
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