http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/un-condemns-religious-attacks-including-in-indonesia/415857
UN Condemns Religious Attacks, Including in Indonesia Stephanie Nebehay | January 09, 2011 An Egyptian Christian stands beside a white cloth smeared with blood from victims from the New Year's Day bomb attacks in the Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria. (Reuters Photo) Geneva. Attacks on religious minorities in places like Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Indonesia should serve as a wake-up call to authorities everywhere to combat rising fanaticism, the top U.N. human rights official said on Friday. All countries have a moral and legal duty to protect freedom of religion by quashing sectarian violence and rooting out discriminatory laws that can lead to full-fledged conflict, said Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. "Attacks on churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other religious sites around the world, as well as targeted attacks against individuals, should act as a wake-up call to all of us," Pillay said in a statement. Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Ahmadis have been targeted in the past year, according to Pillay, a former war crimes judge. She specifically condemned attacks in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Pakistan. She did not single out particular faiths for blame, but the examples she cited were mostly of Muslim countries where Christian minorities or rival Muslim sects have been targeted. "I am concerned that divisive or weak state laws and policies in many countries foster the religious discrimination that feeds extremism. It is also vital that authorities discourage the exploitation of religions for political agendas." In the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, a New Year's Day bombing killed up to 23 Christian worshippers leaving a Coptic church, raising fears of further attacks. Officials suspect an al Qaeda-inspired bomber. Islamist websites have carried threats against Egyptian Christians before and since that attack, which followed a deadly siege of a church in Baghdad in October by al Qaeda-linked militants who said they would also target Christians in Egypt. In Nigeria, police last week arrested 92 suspected members of the Boko Haram radical Islamist sect, which wants strict Islamic law imposed throughout the country. The group has claimed responsibility for Christmas Eve church bombings and other attacks in the central city of Jos and the northern city of Maiduguri that killed around 100 people and led to violence between Muslims and Christians. Religious minorities in nuclear-armed Pakistan have also been subjected to an increasing number of attacks, Pillay said. In Malaysia, attacks on churches led to retaliation attacks on a mosque and several Muslim prayer rooms in January 2010. Reuters ++++ http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/indonesia/religious-affairs-ministry-courts-controversy-with-islamic-awards/415126 Religious Affairs Ministry Courts Controversy With Islamic Awards Elisabeth Oktofani, Ulma Haryanto & Fitri R. | January 05, 2011 A gang of youths in West Lombok district destroying an empty home belonging to the Ahmadiyah community in November. Questions are being raised over the Religious Affairs Ministry's decision to honor West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi, who has pushed for a ban on Ahmadiyah (JG Photo/Fitri) Critics have lashed out at the Ministry of Religious Affairs for recently handing out awards to Muslim leaders, saying it unduly favored Islam over other faiths. The ministry on Monday presented awards to six governors and 10 district heads and mayors for "explicitly including Islamic education in regional bylaws." Recipients included the governors of Bangka-Belitung, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi. The winning district heads and mayors were from Lhokseumawe and Sabang in Aceh, East Ogan Komering Ulu and Palembang in South Sumatra, Lebak and Tangerang in Banten, Sukabumi in West Java, Jepara in Central Java, West Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara and Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi. Ismail Hasani, a senior researcher at the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said the ministry "showed favoritism" by handing out the awards. "It's supposed to be the Religious Affairs Ministry, not the Islamic Affairs Ministry," Ismail said on Tuesday. "I fear that the objectivity of the country's public officials has been compromised," he added. "They no longer work for all groups in society, but rather they see things based on the dichotomy of majority and minority." In particular, Ismail questioned the ministry's decision to honor West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zainul Majdi, who pushed for a ban on Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect considered deviant by most mainstream Muslims, in his province. "Zainul is an Islamic cleric whose grandfather founded Nahdlatul Wathan, the biggest Islamic organization in the province," Ismail said. "Now he has ambitions to build the country's biggest Islamic center there, for which he's already had two schools bulldozed. Not to mention he's already quarantined the Ahmadiyah." Members of the sect have been forced to live in temporary shelters in Mataram after being barred from returning to their homes. Several provincial officials have proposed relocating sect members to a deserted island. Taqiuddin Mansur, director of the Al Mansuryah Islamic boarding school in Central Lombok, said Zainul's administration treated Nahdatul Wathan institutions more favorably than those run by Muhammadiyah or Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's two biggest Islamic organizations. "A governor shouldn't be so primordial or sectarian like that," he said. Tantowi, a coordinator for the Institute of Humanitarian Studies (LenSA) in West Nusa Tenggara, said funding was skewed toward Zainul's pet organization and projects. "The provincial Islamic center gets an annual budget of Rp 500 billion [$56 million]," he said. "Meanwhile, anyone wanting to build a church or house of worship for any other religion gets a hard time from the authorities." Noorhaidi Hasan, from Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said the awards might have been politically motivated. "Research shows that religious bylaws are often used only to accumulate power or influence, and they're not always implemented," he said. "That the administrations getting the awards are those that pushed for Islamic interests - there might be something there." Ismail said the awards were introduced after Suryadharma Ali became the religious affairs minister in October 2009. "During his rule, he has often made decisions that reflect his Islamic political background and not his role as a public official," he said. Afrizal Zein, a spokesman of the Religious Affairs Ministry, said the awards were initiated by the head of the Directorate of Islamic Education, which naturally recognized efforts to help Muslim schools. "If other directorate heads want to do the same thing, they are allowed to do so," he said. "It just depends on whether they have the budget for it." Bonar Tigor Naipospos, Setara's deputy chairman, said the state should "maintain its distance" from all faiths. "Unfortunately, the government does things that it thinks are right, but that only turn out to be discriminative," he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! 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