Posted on 10/19/2001 9:47:09 AM PDT by Pericles
Friday October 19 6:31 AM ET
Indonesia Muslims Turn Out in Force Against U.S. Raids
An Indonesian Muslim woman shouts during a protest in Jakarta October 19, 2001, against the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan. More than 10,000 Muslims -- some singing 'our blood is boiling' -- marched through the Indonesian capital on Friday in the country's biggest protest to date against the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan. (Beawiharta/Reuters)
By Achmad Sukarsono
JAKARTA (Reuters) - More than 10,000 Muslims, some singing ''our blood is boiling,'' marched through the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Friday in the country's biggest protest to date against the U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan.
But there was none of the violence that has marred previous rallies in the world's largest Muslim nation and the rally broke up peacefully by later afternoon.
The protesters, including hundreds of veiled women in white, marched from just outside the main mosque, past the U.S. embassy and then down the main thoroughfare before stopping at the city's central roundabout, which is also outside the British embassy.
``We are angry, our blood is boiling. Until the end of time, we will defend all Muslims,'' thousands sang together, led by protest organizers using loudspeakers.
Some waved Palestinian and Afghan flags, others carried banners attacking President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the Afghan assaults.
``Bush and Blair, you are so cruel, you have started a crusade,'' said one banner.
Security was generally low-key, but hundreds of police, troops and water cannon guarded the U.S. and British embassies or were on standby nearby. Traffic continued to flow slowly as police erected signs reading ``sorry, there is a demo.''
Earlier, Vice President Hamzah Haz who heads the country's largest Muslim party, appealed for an end to the protests, warning they could damage the impoverished country.
``We're facing an extraordinary dilemma. If we make a wrong step we can fall into a ravine... therefore I'm asking our Muslim people to stop demonstrating,'' he said in a speech while opening a mosque. ``I'm afraid... if our actions do not express that Islam is grace from Allah, the name of Islam will be destroyed.''
Indonesia has been hit by growing anti-U.S. sentiment, including calls for a holy war from some small, hardline groups, since U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan began on October 7 over the September 11 suicide hijack attacks on New York and Washington.
TREADING FINE LINE
The battered country and its secular president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, are trying to tread a delicate line between supporting a key ally and appeasing Muslim groups.
The capital has been relatively peaceful for most of this week after a violent clash between security forces and protesters on Monday and a police crackdown on radical Muslim leaders.
Worshippers at midday prayers on Islam's holiest day of the week were urged to show restraint, but also to be angry at the United States and its actions.
``We should not be provoked by anger,'' Muslim cleric Irfan Zidni told worshippers at the main Istiqlal mosque, one of the world's biggest.
``We should be angry at the inhumane actions of the United States and its allies, but we have to be wise in helping our brothers,'' he said.
``Let's help them now with prayers so that our brothers in Afghanistan can cope with the attacks from the enemies.''
INFIDELS
``Muslims will be infidels if they befriend people who expel fellow Muslims like the United States is expelling the Afghans.''
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, targeted by a U.S.-led military campaign for sheltering Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, have imposed their own strict interpretation of Islam on their country.
Washington accuses bin Laden of masterminding the September 11 attacks, which killed more than 5,000 people.
Vice President Haz, who has said the attacks on the United States should help cleanse Washington of its sins, appealed to Muslims to show solidarity with Afghanistan through charity and prayers, not protest.
``If we continue demonstrating, our country will become a poorer country,'' he warned. ``Many foreigners have left the country and the impact has been felt by our hotel industry and business community.''
About 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim. Islam in Indonesia is generally moderate and peaceful.
hmmmmmmmm it's ok if they take our money...but they can't stand us.... hmmmm
That can be arranged.
Apparently that's the goal of the Islamic extremist: Take every country they control back to the 13th century.
I read THE NEW LEFT: THE ANTI-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (since retitled THE RETURN OF THE PRIMITIVE). It's one of the finest works of rightist philosophy of the past century. It's prose is stark, lean, powerful.
Ayn Rand taught me a fundamental truth in the 1970s that escapes most conservatives to this day: that the Left is NOT "motivated by the best of intentions." That feminists do not give a damn about equal rights for women. That environmentalists do NOT give a damn about the environment.
I knew this nearly 20 years before the feminists betrayed their ideals for Bill Clinton, thanks to Ayn Rand.
I also read ANTHEM and NIGHT OF JANUARY 16, two minor Rand works. I never read THE FOUNTAINHEAD or ATLAS SHRUGGED. No matter.
Rand's THE NEW LEFT (aka RETURN OF THE PRIMITIVE) contains more fundamental wisdom than everything every said by Bill Buckley and Rush Limbaugh combined.
Rush (of the Institute for BEGINNER Conservative Studies) communicates simple baby-truths to the unitiated. But he still commits the intellectual error of calling leftists "liberals." And National Review puts daily events into perspective.
But Rand is better on FUNDAMENTAL truths. So too Nietzsche (from whom Rand borrowed), who understood the influence of "resentment" in politics.
During the Serbian massacre, I voiced many opinions, to the dismay of humanitarian fellow americans. Being of Greek descent, I had a different view of the whole thing. That crisis, and others, were not really dealt with, they were hastily patched.
There are few admonitions to violence in the Bible and none in the New Testament. This is in stark contrast to the Koran.
Don't take my word for it, read the fricking thing. It is pure garbage from cover to cover.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.