Indonesia bracing for attacks by al-Qaida

Knox News ^ | December 21, 2003 | By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press

[miltonim]

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Al-Qaida-linked militants are feared to be targeting churches this Christmas in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, but priests and preachers said they aren't canceling yuletide services.

With memories of a string of church bombings still fresh, the U.S. Embassy is warning Americans in Indonesia that the risk of terror attacks over Christmas and the New Year is "particularly high."

Some 140,000 police will be deployed over the holiday, worshipers will have to pass through metal detectors at most churches, and police guards will search the buildings before Christmas services, said National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar.

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 an Aug. 5 attack on the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12.

The U.S. Embassy has warned that places of worship popular with expatriates, shopping centers and hotels are possible targets over the holidays. The Australian Embassy is also telling its citizens to be on alert.

"There is a climate of anxiety," said the Rev. Andrew Lake, an Australian who heads an Anglican congregation in Jakarta.

Lake said that some worshipers 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 point man 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 violations of immigration laws.

"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 complain of aggressive missionary activity by Christians, accusing them of building churches without permits and using private schools to spread their message.

Despite the warnings, not all Christians are changing their routine this holiday season.

"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.

[rabidralph]

These al qaeda folk seem to be one step below the dozens of people in the U.S. who are offened each year at Santa displays and nativity scenes in public areas. Maybe it's only a matter of time before secularists and humanists in the U.S. start bombing our churches for celebrating Christmas.

[angkor]

I just got off the phone with an expat friend in Jakarta. He's Roman Catholic and has never changed his church attendance (or any other) activity there, over many years. In fact during Ramadan I was there and we were in expat bars, shopping malls, hotel restaurants and behaving quite normally. I detected zero evidence of a "climate of anxiety" among either expats or locals. There is a lot of new security in place, but that's not equivalent to "anxiety."

Note also that this article contains precisely two sources relevant to the headline: the minister (who excuses his congregation if they don't attend services) and the woman who says she's going to Christmas services no matter what. I would hardly characterize either of those positions as "bracing for attacks."

This again illustrates the media's prediliction to exaggerate the situation on the ground abroad, which I've personally seen them do in another overseas situation (on that occasion I was constantly having to reassure my family that the U.S. news coverage was distorted, exaggerated, and completely off-base, and that everything was fine).

Refreshingly, in a Google search yesterday I found several news stories debunking the so-called "climate of fear" among expats in Saudi, with most giving the security situation due credence but having no intention whatsoever of leaving.

I could swear these overseas reporters are constantly overblowing local situations to (a) meet their weekly line quotas and (b) make themselves appear daring and fearless to their home-office editors. From abroad, the disconnect is often amazing: you read the stories, scratch your head, and say "Huh?!"