Pope mourns "barbaric" beheadings in Indonesia

VATICAN CITY, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict offered his deepest sympathies on Sunday to the families of three Christian girls beheaded in Indonesia as they walked to school near a Muslim town.

The Vatican called Saturday's killings "barbaric" and said in a statement that the Pope would pray for "the return of peace among the people" of the region, long plagued by sectarian violence.

Six machete-wielding men dressed in black attacked the 16 to 19-year-old students near the Muslim town of Poso on Saturday, leaving the girls' headless bodies, dressed in brown uniforms, at the site of the killings.

Their heads were found at separate locations two hours later by residents.

"The Holy Father entrusted the Bishop of Manado, Mons. Joseph Theodorus Suwatan, to relay to the victims' families and the diocese his deepest condolences," the Vatican said in a statement.

Muslim-Christian clashes in the Poso area killed 2,000 people from 1998 through 2001, when a peace deal was agreed.

While the worst violence abated after the deal, there have been sporadic outbreaks since. Bombings in May in the Christian town of Tentena killed 22 people.

About 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim.
(Additional reporting by Ade Rina and Tomi Soetjipto in Jakarta)

Christian girls beheaded in grisly Indonesian attack

Editor note: In recent years Christian Indonesian are regularly persecuted but perpetrators are rarely caught and brought to justice.

Three teenage Christian girls were beheaded and a fourth was seriously wounded in a savage attack on Saturday by unidentified assailants in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi.

The girls were among a group of students from a private Christian high school who were ambushed while walking through a cocoa plantation in Poso Kota subdistrict on their way to class, police Major Riky Naldo said.

The area is close to the provincial capital of Poso, about 1000 kilometres northeast of Jakarta.
Naldo said the heads of the three dead victims were found several kilometres from their bodies.

In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the police to begin a hunt for the killers.
"In the holy month of Ramadan, we are again shocked by a sadistic crime in Poso that claimed the lives of three school students," he told reporters at the airport as he prepared to fly to Sumatra island.

"I condemn this barbarous killing, whoever the perpetrators are and whatever their motives." He ordered the security forces to find the killers and maintain order in the region.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but Central Sulawesi has a roughly equal number of Muslims and Christians. The province was the scene of a bloody religious war in 2001-2002 that killed around 1000 people from both communities.

At the time, beheadings, burnings and other atrocities were common.

A government-mediated truce succeeded in ending the conflict in early 2002, but there have since been a series of bomb attacks and assassinations of Christians.

These included a blast at a market in Poso, a predominantly Christian town, that killed 22 people in May.
Christian leaders have repeatedly accused the authorities in Jakarta of not doing enough to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

The Christian-Muslim conflict in Sulawesi was an extension of a wider sectarian war in the nearby Maluku archipelago in which up to 9000 perished between 1999 and 2002.

The Maluku conflict intensified soon after it began with the arrival of volunteers belonging to Laskar Jihad, a newly created militia from Indonesia's main island of Java that was supported by hardline elements of the security forces.

Analysts and diplomats accused senior army commanders of funding and training the militia, which was hurriedly disbanded following the terrorist attacks on the tourist island of Bali in 2002 which claimed 202 lives, including 88 Australians.

In Indonesia, Songs Against Terrorism

By Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and C. Holland Taylor
The latest suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali appear to have been carried out by young Indonesian Muslims indoctrinated in an ideology of hatred. Once again the cult of death has proved its ability to recruit misguided fanatics and incite them to violate Islam's most sacred teachings in the very name of God. The only way to break this vicious cycle is by discrediting the perverse ideology that underlies and motivates such brutal acts of terrorism.

Dewa - Ahmad Dhani

One of us, Abdurrahman Wahid, was Indonesia's president when tragic violence inundated the eastern region of Ambon and the Malukus six years ago. A seemingly trivial argument between a Christian bus driver and a Muslim passenger in early 1999 triggered a bloody religious war that eventually claimed 10,000 lives and drove a half-million Christian and Muslim inhabitants from their homes. Radical Muslims from throughout Indonesia flocked to the region to wage jihad on Indonesian Christians, backed by powerful Islamist generals and plenty of money.

The largest such group was Laskar Jihad ("Warriors of Jihad"), led by an Indonesian of Arab descent whose ancestors came from the same province in Yemen as those of Osama bin Laden. Jafar Umar Thalib is a veteran of the Afghan jihad and knows bin Laden personally. Backed by spiteful generals close to the disgraced Suharto regime, Thalib sounded the call to jihad, and thousands of young Muslims flocked to his green banner to slaughter Indonesian Christians in the name of God.

Enjoying powerful clandestine support, Laskar Jihad had actually established a military training camp less than 60 miles from the capital, Jakarta. When national police broke up the camp, Thalib promptly announced that Laskar Jihad would sail for Ambon and wage jihad there. I (Wahid) ordered the army generals in East Java to prevent them from sailing and ordered the navy to intercept them if they did. I also ordered the governor of East Java to guard the docks and prevent Laskar Jihad from boarding. But these presidential orders were ignored by a military that refused to accept civilian control in the newly democratic Indonesia. An unholy alliance of fundamentalist jihadists, Islamist generals and people close to the Suharto family ensured that thousands of Laskar Jihadists poured into Ambon and the Malukus.

Once there, they spread out in the Muslim communities and launched devastating raids on neighboring Christian enclaves, burning and desecrating churches; destroying homes; and slaughtering thousands of men, women and children.

All of Indonesia knew what was happening. It was in the news day and night. Laskar Jihad became a symbol and a byword for the suffering inflicted upon that region. The goal of its clandestine backers -- and those in parliament itself -- was to create chaos and block the reform that desperately needed to occur in the Indonesian government. They succeeded; the process of reform ground to a halt.

Then came the first Bali bombing in 2002, with jihadists incinerating a popular club and more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. Although that attack was the work of a different jihadist group, Jemaah Islamiah, it was obvious that the military -- by then in the hands of "red," or nationalist, generals allied to my successor, Megawati Sukarnoputri -- would crack down on all active jihadist groups. Immediately afterward, Thalib announced that Laskar Jihad had served its purpose, and he recalled its warriors to Java. Thousands of battle-hardened jihadists returned to Java's towns and villages to await his further call.

One of the people watching this tragedy unfold was a brilliant young musician named Ahmad Dhani. Leader of the immensely popular rock band Dewa, Dhani began to use his musical platform to influence millions of fans in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to resist the tide of religious extremism.

In response to Laskar Jihad's atrocities, and to discredit the appeal of fundamentalist ideology, Dhani composed the best-selling album "Laskar Cinta" ("Warriors of Love"). Released in November 2004, it quickly rose to the top of the charts as millions of young Indonesians embraced its message of love, peace and tolerance.

Dhani and the other members of Dewa have presented Indonesia's youth with a stark choice, and one easy for the vast majority to answer: Do they want to join the army of jihad, or the army of love? In response, numerous radical Muslim groups have accused Dhani -- who is a devout Sufi, or mystically inclined Muslim -- of being an infidel, an apostate (code words inciting violence) and a Zionist agent. They have hauled him into court on charges of defaming Islam and seek to ban his use of rock music to promote a spiritual and progressive interpretation of Islam that threatens the appeal of their own Wahhabi-inspired extremism.

Yet rather than be intimidated, Dhani recently announced to the Indonesian press his plan to launch another "ideological smart bomb" -- in the form of a song that uses the revelatory tone of the Koran to declare: "Truth dwells in the hearts of those who love and are free of hatred; the hearts of those who hate . . . are possessed by Satan."

Dhani and his group are on the front lines of a global conflict, defending Islam from its fanatical hijackers. In a world all too often marred by hatred and violence committed in the name of religion, they seek to rescue an entire generation from Wahhabi-financed extremists whose goal is to transform Muslim youth into holy warriors and suicide bombers. For every young Indonesian seduced by the ideology of hatred and fanaticism -- including those responsible for the recent, awful attacks in Bali -- countless others see through the extremists' web of lies and hatred, in no small part thanks to the visionary courage of people like Ahmad Dhani. For as they listen to Dewa's music, the hearts of millions of young Indonesians have been inspired to declare: "No to the warriors of jihad! Yes to the warriors of love!"

Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid is a former president of Indonesia. From 1984 to 1999 he headed Nadhlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization, with nearly 40 million members. C. Holland Taylor is chairman and chief executive of Libforall Foundation, a nonprofit that works to reduce religious extremism and discredit the use of terrorism. Dhani serves on the foundation's board. The authors can be reached at media@libforall.org.

Seeking a final resting place

For many Jakartans, particularly the poor, the death of a relative can be a double blow. They mourn because their loved one has gone forever and because they have to pay a lot of money to greedy cemetery officials in order to secure a plot in a much-neglected public cemetery owned by the city administration. For rich people, however, there are several cemeteries around Jakarta where they can build a grand tomb for their deceased. This week's cover story highlights the issue. By Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post

Yola dreads the days when she has to visit her mother's grave.
"I don't like being reminded that she's dead. I'd much rather celebrate her life," said the 22-year-old student. "Her grave means little to me."

Still, she was furious upon seeing what had happened to her mother's grave in the Christian Pandu public cemetery in Bandung.

Yola's father had designed the grave carefully, etching symbols to represent the family -- which his wife cherished most in life -- and surfaced it with black marble tiles. He erected a tall chain-link fence surrounding the two-by-three-meter grave to keep goats from eating the flowers.
On a visit one year after her mom's death, Yola could not find the grave. "It was always difficult for me to spot it as the cemetery was a right-royal mess, with graves placed haphazardly," she said.
Then she saw why it was extra hard to recognize it: there was nothing left of the fence except the frame. Thieves had removed the chain link to sell.

"My father was heartbroken. I was fuming," she said.
Three months later, the family found the bigger parts of the marble chipped. Yola's father replaced the marble with plain stone.
"There is no respect for the dead, nor for the living family. None at all," said Yola.
In a world where nothing is certain but death and taxes, one would think that a decent final resting place was the least a person should have. Nevertheless, facts show that the dead in Indonesia are often treated as nothing more than decaying flesh and bones. Gone. Unimportant.

A poor family in Jakarta has to spend at least Rp 1 million (US$99) -- more than a month's minimum wage -- to have a grave in a public cemetery dug, cover the rent on a tarpaulin for the funeral and for the three-year lease on a two-by-one meter plot.

The city budget supposedly covers the cost of graves for the poor -- as stipulated in an article in the Constitution saying that the poor will be cared for by the state.
Middle-class families such as Yola's can arrange a proper burial, as long as they are willing to accept a grave in any available space in a cramped cemetery. Even after paying monthly service fees to the head of graveyard, they may see the graves that they lovingly build stripped of anything of value.

Those who bury their loved ones in public cemeteries then have to pray that the local administration will not suddenly decide to build on the site, as happened in 1997 when the mayor's office was relocated to a grand office built on four hectares of a graveyard.
The rich, of course, have more options. They can buy land for Rp 500,000 to Rp 2 million a square meter in a private cemetery, where maintenance and security services are available at a price.
After acquiring pieces of land at 10 times the actual price in surrounding areas, wealthy families can build grandiose tombs that can cost over Rp 1 billion.
One can argue that a cemetery is not a vital facility -- the dead can no longer feel anything and the space could be used for the living.

Although there is some truth in this, it fails to address the needs of those on earth who need the grave to grief and to heal. Yola's father visits his wife's grave regularly, even though she has been gone for four years.

The question of whether a decent grave is a luxury or a necessity may remain open, but current conditions seem to indicate that the former is more the case.
For Yola, the best kind of cemetery would be one similar to the cemetery for Dutch soldiers located next to the Pandu cemetery.

There are rows and rows of white crosses, distanced precisely from one another, on an expanse of grass. There are no thugs portraying as grave cleaners, ready to demand money from every visitor. "The cemetery is modest and yet strikingly beautiful. All men are equal in the eyes of God, and their graves should be equal as well," said Yola.

Indonesia dispatches 750,000 workers overseas this year

The number of Indonesian workers employed overseas this year is expected to reach over 750,000, Antara reported.

The figure is bigger than that of last year which only reached about 380,000, according to the Indonesian Manpower Ministry's Director General for Overseas Recruitment, Gusti Made Arka.

The increased figure is partially attributed to the government's reform of its recruitment system, programmes and administration, as well as its signing of memorandums of understanding (MoU) with recipient countries.

Indonesia also plans to send workers to Australia, Japan and the Netherlands, he added.

Selamat Berpuasa

Bulan ini adalah bulan Ramadan dan saya ingin mengucapkan Selamat Berpuasa kepada kawan2 yg menekuni. May Allah help us in all trials that Indonesia face today and in the future.

Tahun 2005 adalah tahun yang penuh dengan tantangan, belum selesai impact bencana alam Tsunami musibah besar baru muncul seperti kecelakaan pesawat di Medan & Bom di Bali. Jangan lupa juga penyakit2 yg tidak ada penyembuhannya berdatangan seperti Polio dan Avian Flu.

Selain itu, Indonesia juga harus berhadapan dengan kenaikan bahan bakar dan gereja2 yg ditutup secara paksa. Hak asasi beribadah dibredel begitu saja. Walau pemerintah SBY "memprotes" tapi tidak digubris. Sampai saya bertanya2, kok bisa protes Presiden tidak bergigi? apakah Presiden kita ini sungguh2 protes atau setengah hati?

Kita tidak tahu tantangan baru apa yg akan dialami Indonesia dan kita berharap bulan Puasa ini boleh menjadi bulan renungan dan intropeksi diri supaya kesalahan2 lampau tidak terulang terutama kesalahan2 karena ulah tindakan manusia.

Selamat Berpuasa and Happy Ramadan!!!

Police: Bali mastermind escapes raid

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -- Alleged Bali bombing mastermind Noordin Mohamed Top narrowly escaped capture Friday after he fled a remote village hours before a pre-dawn raid by anti-terror police on his hideout, police said.

Noordin and his close aide Azahari bin Husin are two of Southeast Asia's most wanted men and believed to be key members of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah -- the group suspected in last weekend's suicide bombings on Bali island.
The two Malaysians have kept one step ahead of a massive manhunt for years, moving constantly in densely populated areas of the sprawling nation made up of 220 million people and more than 10,000 islands.

Imprisoned Christian Sunday School Teachers in Indonesia Establish Church

The three Indonesian woman that are serving a three-year prison sentence after their convictions in Indonesia, have started a church within their prison walls.

The three Indonesian woman that are serving a three-year prison sentence after their conviction of “attempting to coerce children to change their religion” under the Indonesian “Child Protection Act” after running a Christian Sunday school, have started a church within their prison walls, according to Christian Freedom International (CFI).

A huge outcry against their convictions has been heard by numerous Christian agencies, and CFI has called on the Indonesian government to release the three women immediately. It is also urging the U.S. government to ‘place all possible pressure on Indonesia for their immediate release.’Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun. had run a popular Sunday school program in which several Muslim children participated in after obtaining parental consent. However, a local Islamic group brought charges against the three women for breaking the “Child Protection Act.”Christian Freedom International President Jim Jacobson recently visited the women at the prison in the Indramayu district of West Java. Of the conviction, Rebekka said, “My first reaction, I cry.” Rebekka is a medical doctor who had treated 30 to 40 Muslim and Christian patients everyday in her clinic based in Indramayu. Now she is confined in a dirty prison with a total of 437 inmates. Sixteen inmates are women. Eight women stay in a 5m by 5m cell and sleep together on a hard wooden platform with no blankets or sheets allowed. “We have to pay money to the guards to turn the water on to the toilet in our cell,” said Rebekka. “I wake up at 5:00am everyday to pray and read my Bible till 7:30am. At 8:00am they open the [cell] doors,” she continued. The 16 women are taken to a 10m by 10m room until 4 pm. There is only one chair. Three times a day, they are fed an ‘egg-sized’ lump of rice and soybean mixture covered in ants, assist news has reported. I am not angry at the people who brought the charges against me. I forgive them. I bless them.

Dr. Rebekka Zakaria, Sunday School Teacher“We eat breakfast, lunch, dinner in that room on the floor. No dining room. We get a small portion of lamb once a week,” said Rebekka. But amazingly, Rebekka has been allowed to lead a worship service on Sundays in a small outdoor courtyard area of the prison, according to Christian Freedom International. Each Sunday, around 35 people are permitted to enter the prison to join the service. This has brought forth one male inmate to convert to Christianity. This brings the total to 7 Christians in the prison. “This is ‘School of Trust Bible School.’ Not a jail,” said Rebekka.“Sometimes I am depressed, but not for long. God comforts me everyday with joy and peace. I pray for the other prisoners and guards. One prisoner converted and became a Christian. We share our faith with others,” said Rebekka.“We have been here 140 days. I want to do God’s will. I hope to be released soon,” said Rebekka.Rebekka said, “I am not angry at the people who brought the charges against me. I forgive them. I bless them.” Etta, who has left three children at home, said, “I had a dream of going home. I am depressed sometimes. I am not angry about being here. My accusers didn’t understand.”Ratna, a mother of two, said with tearful eyes, “I miss my children so much.”Rebekka told CFI president Jim Jacobson, “I want people to know about our situation. I want prayer support. I was surprised so happily that American Christians were so interested in our case. Please pray for us.” According to Jacobson, “under the Children Protection Act and other regulations, no Christian is safe in Indonesia. This case should be a wakeup call for all caring Christians.” Indonesia is recognised as the largest Muslim nation in the world.

Laporan Singkat REUNI 1 Oktober 2005 - Hendro W

Berkat Doa Restu dari Teman-Teman semua, walaupun sempat ada kekhawatiran akan adanya demo di Jakarta akibat naiknya BBM, Reuni kita berjalan dengan sukses dan kocak. Total yang dateng sekitar 80 orang. Mustinya 43 IPA dan 43 IPS, ternyata yang muncul kira2 30 IPA dan 50 IPS (panitia belum sempat reconcile lagi). Tampang2 banyak yg masih sama, walaupun 'size'nya yg beda, ada yg jadi kurus ada yg jadi gemuk. ha..ha.. Tapi ada juga yg gak berubah. Paling 'keren' adalah David Gepeng (IPS) karena dia bener2 pake seragam sma yg ada lambang osis dan berambut cepak persis seperti anak sma.

Sekitar jam 5:45 udah banyak yg dateng. MC dilakukan oleh Tze Kong. Dibuka dengan kata sambutan oleh saya dengan memperkenalkan semua panitia yang sudah bekerja keras, kompak, kreatif dan pantang menyerah dalam mencari dan menelpon teman2 semua.

Dilanjutkan dengan game menebak lagu dengan cara salah satu anak dari IPA/IPS harus menggambar atau memeragakan lagu yg harus ditebak. Yang dimenangkan oleh team IPS. Terus dilanjutkan dengan pemutaran acara slide show dari photo2 waktu sma anak IPA/IPS dengan dubbing lagu2 yg dikirim oleh Anyan. Nanti slide show ini akan kita compile juga dengan foto2 reuni. Setelah itu disambung dengan game menebak nama dari 5 foto anak IPA dan 5 foto anak IPS yg ada di slide show. Lagi2 pemenangnya adalah team IPS. Kesimpulan anak IPS lebih bergaul dari anak IPA. ha..ha...

Setelah yg kocak2, acara dilanjutkan dengan yg sedikit serius dengan presentasi oleh Dr Taswin Prawira (anak IPA) yg specialis penyakit dalam di RS Mitra Kemayoran. Topic tentang Berat Badan Ideal (BBI). Juga adanya alat timbang yg bisa mengukur berat badan ideal dan kelebihan berat/lemak yg harus dikurangi.

Sekitar jam 7 udah pada kelaparan. Sebelum makan, dipimpin doa oleh teman kita Rusman Wijaya (IPA) yg jadi majelis gereja. Abis doa ada yg nyeletuk kagum/gak sangka (?) Rusman bisa berdoa dengan baik. ha..ha.. Udah gitu Rusman bereaksi dengan bilang 'yes' sambil kepal tangan. Anak2 pada ketawa2 semua ngelihat majelis gereja yg kocak. Dan langsung menyerbu makanan. Sambil makan, slide show diputer terus, tapi anak2 lebih seru ngobrol2. Sampe2 susah banget disuruh kumpul lagi. Setelah pada kumpul lagi. Diteruskan dengan pengumuman hasil timbang berat badan. Setelah itu acara door price. Setelah door price, dipanggil pasangan suami/istri dari IPA/IPS untuk menceritakan pengalaman2 mereka masa lalu pacaran sampai sekarang bersama. Karena waktu dah mepet, panitia terpaksa mempercepat dengan acara foto bersama. Nah ini yg seru banget. Karena semua berasa seperti "cover girl" dan "cover boy". Udah gitu gak mau udahan, tukang foto disuruh 'jepret' terus dengan berbagai gaya. Setelah itu dibagiin kaos. Habis dibagi kaos, gak mau rugi, mau di foto lagi pake kaos dengan bermacam gaya. ha...ha...

Uang yg terkumpul (cukup banyak krn banyak penyumbang dan akan diumumkan kemudian), setelah dipotong biaya2, kalau ada sisa akan diberikan kepada guru yg membutuhkan. Sementara yg diumumkan kemarin adalah Pak Tum yg katanya menderita sakit. Kalau ada yg tahu guru lain yg juga membutuhkan, tolong kasih tahu panitia. Nanti panitia pikirin kira2 siapa yg akan kita bantu. Bagi yang masih mau menyumbang, panitia tetap membuka rekening sampai 2 minggu.

Akhirnya kita pulang sekitar jam 9, itu aja gara2 panitia udah kecapean dan ada kabar bom bali, padahal sebagian besar pada masih ngobrol.

Nanti kita akan kumpulkan semua foto2, lagu, video, data2 anak2, dll ke cd atau vcd. Mungkin gak muat satu buah. Dan akan diumumkan cara distribusinya.

Sekian dulu laporannya. Oh iya,, udah banyak yg nanyaiin kapan next reuninya