Tag: Sumatra

Indonesia: Three churches closed in permits dispute

October 3, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Churches, Indonesia, Islamic Defenders Front, Java, Minorities, Sumatra

Officials close and seal the doors of the Assemblies of God church in West Kenali village, Sumatra, who have been meeting since 2004. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Three churches were closed in an Indonesian village last week amidst rumours Muslims were planning to protest against the churches’ presence because they did not have the required permits. But a pastor from one of the affected churches in West Kenali village, Alam Barajo district, in Sumatra’s central Jambi province, . . . Read More

Indonesia bombings ‘did not come as a surprise’

May 14, 2018 Indonesia Indonesia, Islamic extremism, JAD, Java, Joko Widodo, Nahdlatul Ulama, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Surabaya

As details emerge of the shocking tactics used in the two sets of bomb attacks in Indonesia over the last 48 hours, a regional analyst has said he was not surprised by the apparent Islamist motive. “Just a few weeks before the attacks, the government published a study, according to . . . Read More

Pre-election ‘warning’ attack on Indonesian church

March 13, 2018 Indonesia Catholics, Indonesia, Sumatra

An attack on a church in Indonesia by vandals has been described as a “political warning” ahead of upcoming regional elections in June, reports Asia News. Vandals destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary and set fire to benches when they broke into St. Zechariah church just after midnight on . . . Read More

Indonesia Christians’ whipping a rare example of non-Muslims punished under Sharia

March 2, 2018 Indonesia Aceh, Hijab, Indonesia, Sharia, Sumatra

Two Indonesian Christians were whipped in public earlier this week in Banda Aceh, the capital of the Sumatran province of Aceh, as a crowd took photos and jeered. Dahlan Sili Tongga, 61, and Tjia Nyuk Hwa, 45, were being punished for breaking Sharia (Islamic law) by playing a game at . . . Read More

Indonesia’s president tells Catholic students to work for ‘harmony’

January 25, 2018 Indonesia Catholics, Indonesia, Joko Widodo, Religious freedom, Sumatra, Youth

Catholic students meet in Palmbang, Sumatra, this week. (Photo: Matters India)

Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, opened the 30th Catholic students congress in Palembang, on the island of Sumatra, this week by telling them to work together for “peace” and “harmony”. The president told the 3,800 participants that the “Pancasila”, the five principles that make up the state philosophy of the Indonesian . . . Read More

‘Mutual respect’ needed to combat radicalisation in Indonesia

November 10, 2017 Indonesia Catholics, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Religious freedom, Sumatra

Altar of the Stasi Kinali Catholic Church, West-Sumatra, Indonesia, which was attacked in May 2014. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Religious leaders should be more involved in creating an inclusive and pluralistic Indonesia and “leave the ‘comfort zone’” of their community, Catholic bishops were told at a conference this week. What the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation needs from its religious leaders now “is greater commitment to get involved more . . . Read More

Indonesia: ‘zero flexibility’ for adoptions by religious minorities

October 27, 2017 Indonesia Bekasi, Blasphemy, Children, Indonesia, Religious freedom, Santa Clara, Sumatra

Religious minorities in Indonesia are discriminated against when they want to adopt, according to Human Rights Watch’s report, which highlights the case of a Christian policewoman from North Sumatra. Ida Maharani Hutagaol, took a month-old boy, found abandoned in a ditch in Binjal, to hospital and ensured he was well cared for. In . . . Read More

Indonesian schoolchildren ‘likely’ used notebooks containing IS propaganda

July 11, 2017 Indonesia Ahok, Islamic State, JAD, Joko Widodo, Papua, Sumatra

Children are “likely” to have used notebooks with Islamic State (IS) propaganda on their covers and inside, reports Reuters. Hundreds of the notebooks were seized during an investigation into the stabbing to death of a policeman in Medan, North Sumatra province on 25 June. Children’s handwriting was found in some . . . Read More

Aged four and scarred for life: the children who survived Indonesian church attack

June 16, 2017 Indonesia Borneo, Samarinda, Sumatra, Trauma

*Warning: Readers may find images upsetting. Two-year-old Anita Sihotang cannot bear the sound of her father’s motorbike because it reminds her of the noise of the explosion last November, when a petrol bomb was thrown into a church park where children were playing, killing one child and seriously injuring Anita . . . Read More

Injured Indonesian boy, 4, ‘ashamed’ by wounds after 17th operation since November church attack

March 14, 2017 Indonesia Aceh, Bogor, Islamic State, Java, Joko Widodo, Kalimantan, Samarinda, Sumatra

Just over four months ago, on 13 November 2016, a two-year-old girl died after suffering 75% burns during a bomb attack on a church in Indonesia. Three other young children were also injured – Anita (also two), Trinity (three) and Alvaro (four) – during the attack on Oikumene Church in . . . Read More

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