Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (14190)	10/29/2003 1:22:52 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793731

Indonesia does have a terror problem, but this fellow doesn’t seem to know much about it. Marshall prostests vigorously about the burning of churches and the raids on Christians in Maluku and Sulawesi. He conveniently neglects to mention that the recent fighting in Maluku – and the introduction of Laskar Jihad forces to the area – was provoked by a rash of mosque-burnings by Christians, and the subsequent killing of 400 Muslims in the village of Tobelo by Christian militia forces, in late 1999. Laskar Jihad was never a terrorist group, and had no demonstrable connection to AQ, though JI, a real terror group with real AQ connections, probably did some recruiting there. The group recruited Muslim militia members and sent them to areas where the Government did not seem to be adequately protecting Muslims against Christian militias, and the predominantly Christian police and paramilitary forces in the region. (Maluku and parts of Sulawesi have Christian majorities, and most of the Muslims are fairly recent immigrants.) Lakar Jihad and Laskar Mujahedin undoubtedly did nasty things to Christians, but no nastier than the things the Christians were already doing to the Muslims. Many Muslims in the area believe that only the entry of these militias prevented more widespread massacres of Muslim communities. The conflict is the result of local migration-related tensions, and has involved numerous atrocities on both sides: there are no good guys and bad guys in these fights. Islamist forces have used the conflict as a springboard, and Christians have tried – apparently with some success – to gain western support by portraying themselves as victims of terrorism, which they are definitely not. I can’t help noticing that Marshall has not a word to say about the Indonesian government’s campaign of State Terror in Aceh. Of course the Acehnese are Muslims, so they don’t count. I suspect that if Jakarta was doing the same sort of thing to Christians, Marshall would be screaming to high heaven about it. Reading crap like this makes you wonder how Marshall, a “senior fellow at Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom” actually defines religious freedom. I get the impression that he thinks religious freedom means freedom for Christians to do whatever they want – including killing Muslims. There seems to be a trend these days toward making an issue of religious freedom. Unfortunately, the bias toward and focus on the freedoms of Christians is very thinly covered, and detracts greatly from the legitimacy of the effort.