COURT PROCEEDINGS CONTINUE FOR INDONESIAN SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS
By Jeremy Reynalds (07/13/05)
Court proceedings involving three Indonesian Christian women arrested under "Child Protection" laws for using so-called deception to entice Indonesian youngsters to convert to Christianity continued last week.
According to a news release from International Christian Concern (ICC), an organizations that helps those persecuted for their faith, the children denied being given money to convert to Christianity.
It was also made clear, ICC reported, that each Muslim child who attended the Sunday school classes had their parents' permission, and when the three Christian women took the children on field trips, the children were accompanied by their Muslim parents.
These court proceedings were a result of legislation that targets religious minorities in the once tolerant nation of Indonesia. ICC reported the law states, "Any person who purposely uses deception, lies or enticement to make a child choose another religion not of his own free will . . . (will) be prosecuted by imprisonment for five years and/or a fine of Rp.100.000.000" (one hundred million Rupiah).
As the proceedings were about to begin, a group of radical Islamists went to the courthouse and gathered outside. When the three women arrived for their trial, ICC reported that police officers had to hold back the mob from attacking the women, as they shouted "Allahu akbar! (God is great!) Dr. Rebekah is evil, hang them...Shoot her!"
ICC said it not immediately clear who organized the demonstration, but experts believe members of the now disbanded radical Islamic group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), were involved.
"Whoever was behind the protests," ICC said, "they were obviously designed to strike fear into judicial authorities as well as the Christian population."
As the trial began, ICC said, the protesters took over the seats in the courtroom and reacted loudly to everything said. When the leader of the investigative team of the Indonesian Council of Islamic Preachers reportedly shouted at the women, "Stop the terror you are committing," the protesters reportedly responded by shouting, "Allahu-Akbar," and "shoot them!"
Several children were called to testify along with their parents, ICC said, but all of the children were frightened by the radical Islamic sympathizers in the courtroom and had to be taken outside to recover.
The parents were not the ones bringing the charges in the case, ICC reported. It was the Muslim principal of the local elementary school, Ali Nurdin. He reportedly brought the charges after he heard his students singing Christian songs while walking the hallways of school.
In Indonesian state-run schools, ICC said, students are only taught about Islam. Christian parents involved in the case responded to Islamic courses being forced on their children in the public schools by saying, ICC reported, "We are tired of all the religious intolerance that exists. If our children better understand their (Muslim) faith and if they better understand ours (Christianity), then maybe the next generation will not be as intolerant as ours."
So far, according to ICC, there are no indications that the women running the Sunday school classes forced any child to do anything. However, ICC commented, the court proceedings appear "staged and are a shameful mark on the world's largest Muslim nation."
Speaking in a news release, an ICC spokesman added the organization requests "that all concerned individuals who think the world has seen enough destruction and hatred due to religious intolerance (should) contact their Indonesian embassy to urge the Indonesian government to intervene in this court case, so that it will not become a precedent for further persecution and oppression of religious minorities."
For information about ICC go to www.persecution.org
To contact the Indonesia Embassy write to: Indonesian Embassy US, 2020 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20036, USA. Tel. (202) 775 - 5200 or go to www.embassyofindonesia.org.
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