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.
Note to self: stop buying sh!t from Indonesia.
Now, perhaps you can understand why most muslim women must cover their faces....
I wonder -- does "our blood is boiling" -- mean they are ready to stand in line for some spilt blood to "defend Islam" from our "Crusade"?
Semper Fi
The time has come for the civilized peoples of the world to bring the light of reason and knowledge to those who have wallowed in the darkness of ignorance and repression <<
I agree! And the way to do it is for Jews and Christians to tell Muslims, "Hey, OUR holy books are just as bad! The Old and New Testament have AS MUCH FALSENESS as the Koran. We have ALL THREE advocated some ignorance and repression. See us now renounce OUR false passages, even as we invite you to do the same."
That way, we'll do what YOU SAY we should do, and attack ALL SOURCES of ignorance and repression, and not just pick on Islam.
Let's demonstrate our Good Will against ALL ignorance and repression by rejecting false passages from the Old and New Testaments and Koran jointly.
True, I have not read the Koran. But I saw Brian Lamb interview a former Catholic nun on C-SPAN. She had studied Islam and written on it. She said the Koran is a great poetic work, obviously divinely inspired. That's a former Catholic nun talking.
As for the Bible being well-written, well, I wonder if people are just reacting to the Shakepearean English. Much of the Bible that I have read is turgid and unreadable -- such as those passages that go on and on about measurements and begetting and such. My eyes glazed over that.
And the Bible is full of justifications for intitiating violence, cruelty, and conquest. Not all, but much. I tried to believe it as a kid in Catholic school, but rejected it when I found Ayn Rand in high school.
That was a long, long time ago.
One thing that IS different, Islam is much more in the hold of fanatics than MODERN Christianity and Judaism. By and large, Jews and Christians have shown by their deeds that the have rejected the evil passages in their scriptures. Much of the Islamic world has not...
Well yes, that much is true.
But trying to get a modern Christian or Jew to ADMIT that they have rejected their own Bible's dark passages by their deeds is like pulling teeth.
They reject stoning and intolerance and much else by deed, but they don't want to admit that they're rejecting anything that's in the Bible. Odd.
Ah, well that clears up my confusion. After the 200 soldiers blown up in Beirut, and after the bombing of Libya, and after the disco bombing, and after Desert Storm settled back down into desert sand, and after The Great Humanitarian Crusade to kill Serbs And Show Good Faith To Our Bosnian Moslem Brothers, and after the bombings of the African embassies, and after fellacio-gate in Sudan and Afghanistan and after The Great Humanitarian Crusade to kill Serbs And Show Good Faith To Our Albanian Moslem Brothers, and then AFTER the--according to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and The Chairman of the JCS probably several generations long--drive to wipe out terrorism as we define it, THEN we'll reason together.
Okey dokey.
After all, the President DID councel patience.
Or, perhaps National crisis IS the solution to our National crisis IS the solution to our National crisis Is.....
That is very funny. I hope you were you trying to be funny. It's always more enjoyable to laugh with someone than at them....
I agree except that I would exempt the New Testament from your form and content conclusions
But you have to agree it's funny to read someone deliver a sincere criticism of the Bible's turgidity in one breath and in the next confess a fondness for Ayn Rand.
C'mon. You know it's funny. Even her rape scenes are turgid. Oh well. A sense of humor usually accompanies the evolution away from Ayn. Patience.
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