Indonesia har tradisjonelt gått for å være et tolerant land, men ekstreme muslimer hevder islam er under angrep fra kristne som driver misjonering. Det er ellers pussig at dette er en anklage som dukker opp over hele den muslimske verden, med påfølgende sanksjoner mot kristne. I Indonesia minner det om begynnelsen på pogromer.

En selvbestaltet militant organisasjon, Islamic Defenders Front, har påtatt seg rollen som forsvarer av islam, og gjør det ved å gå til angrep.

The front, known for smashing bars, attacking transvestites and going after minority sects with bamboo clubs and stones, is now leading a charge against Christians in the area.
A spate of attacks has rocked Bekasi: Mobs have forced shut two churches this year. Last month, a statue of three women was torn down by authorities after hundreds of hard-liners wearing skull caps and white robes took to the streets, claiming the monument symbolized the Holy Trinity.
Weeks earlier, black-clad youths attacked a Catholic-run school over an anonymous blogger’s «blasphemous» website.

Man pisker seg selv opp til hysteri og ser konspirasjoner og blasfemi over alt. Da en kristen forening holdt treff for fattige fra provinsen forrige uke, dukket et islamistisk TV-team opp, for å bevise at det i realiteten var snakk om masseomvendelse.

A spokeswoman for the group, Marya Irawan, insisted the crowds were invited as part of efforts to reach out to the poor.
But the front was not convinced. Video footage provided by the group shows hundreds of people getting off buses and entering the residential complex, many of them women in headscarves holding babies in slings, and milling about the pool. When a questioner thrust the camera in their faces, demanding to know why they came, most just looked bewildered.

Leder for stiftelsen heter Andreas Dusly Sanau.

When the questioner found Sanau, who had one ear to a phone, he asked if baptisms would be taking place. The 29-year-old Christian’s brow furrowed. He shook his head, «No, no.» Asked if he had an ID card, Sanau flashed it at the interviewer, who zoomed in on his home address. The house has since been abandoned. His bespectacled face now appears on a banner — draped in front of a mosque — with a fiery noose around his neck and the words, «This man deserves the death penalty!»
«He should be executed!» said Barda, the local front leader. «He tried to carry out mass baptisms!»
It was just days later that Barda’s group joined nine others in taking the rare step of recommending at a local congress that Bekasi mosques help set up bands of youths to act as moral police and to intimidate Christians who are trying to convert Muslims.

Samtidig som man begynte trening av islamistiske kampgrupper, dukket det opp plakater med Sanau som har en løkke rundt halsen og teksten: Dødsstraff for Andreas Dusly Sanau.

Hendelsene har vakt stor frykt i Jakarta. Facebook er full av grupper som tar avstand fra volden. Regjeringen forholder seg imidlertid passiv og taus, for ikke å miste støtten fra muslimske partier i nasjonalforsamlingen.

«I really see this as a threat to democracy,» said Arbi Sanit, a political analyst, noting leaders likely haven’t spoken out against the violence for fear of being perceived as «un-Islamic» by lawmakers, a reputation they can’t afford if they’re going to keep the Muslim parties with them.
«Being popular is more important to them than punishing those who are clearly breaking the law.»

Indonesian Islamists open front against Christians