Posted on 12/21/2003 2:56:19 PM PST by SJackson
Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 19--(AP) Al-Qaida linked militants are feared to be targeting churches in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, this Christmas, but priests and preachers aren't canceling yuletide services. "It would be capitulating to fear," said Rev. Andrew Lake, an Australian who heads an Anglican congregation in Jakarta. "Worshipping and serving God are still the highest priority."
Three years ago, bombs exploded at 11 churches across Indonesia on Christmas Eve, killing 19 people and injuring around 100. The attacks have since been blamed on the al-Qaida-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
The group, which allegedly has cells across Southeast Asia, has also been implicated in last year's Bali bombings which killed 202, and the Aug. 5 attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12.
The U.S. Embassy is warning Americans in Indonesia that the risk of terror attacks over Christmas and New Year is "particularly high." Places of worship popular with expatriates, shopping centers and hotels are mentioned as possible targets.
The Australian Embassy is also telling its citizens to be on alert. "We are very vigilant," said Lake, who has lived in Jakarta for seven years. "There is a climate of anxiety."
Lake said that some worshippers might skip Christmas services at the All Saints Anglican Church in the heart of Jakarta because of the terror fears. "I accept that. I don't want them to feel guilty," he said. Christians make up less than 10 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people. Around 85 percent are Muslims and there are Buddhist and Hindu minorities.
Jemaah Islamiyah is believed to still pose a threat despite the arrests of dozens of suspected operatives over the last year, including al-Qaida's alleged pointman in Asia, Indonesian cleric Hambali. On Friday, Abu Bakar Bashir, who foreign governments claim is the group's spiritual leader, said that Osama bin Laden and three militants sentenced to death for last year's Bali bombings were not terrorists but "soldiers in Allah's army."
He made the comments to his followers in prison, where he is serving out a three-year sentence for immigration violations. "The enemies of Islam are the Jews who are led by America and who always slander Muslims as terrorists," he said.
Indonesia's constitution is secular and relations among the faiths are generally good across the country. However, Muslim militants have increasingly been targeting Christians, many of whom come from the country's ethnic Chinese minority.
Christian groups have recorded dozens of attacks on churches in recent years, and they complain the perpetrators are rarely caught. Muslims often complain of aggressive missionary activity by Christians and the building of churches without permits.
Police will deploy some 140,000 personnel over the holiday. Worshippers will have to pass through metal detectors at most churches and officers will search churches before Christmas services, said National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar. "The focus is on the possibility of terror attacks," he said.
Still, not all Christians are worried. "I'm taking these warnings in stride," said Maria Priyanti, a Roman Catholic. "It seems to me that terrorism is by its very nature unpredictable. I will be going to church as normal."
Jemaah Islamiyah is also suspected in the recent killings of 12 Christians on Sulawesi island, which in 2000 was wracked by fighting between Muslims and Christians.
Recently, unidentified people have been distributing leaflets in the province calling for attacks against Christians in the province, said Alex Patambo, the secretary of the region's church crisis center. He said private security had been hired at churches in the city of Tentenna, and worshippers would only be allowed to bring bibles into churches. "There is a state of alert but that does not mean we will not celebrate Christmas," he said from the province, some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Jakarta.
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