War on Christianity
Militant Islamist groups in West Java, Indonesia, have joined forces to plan a roadshow that will encourage a ‘war against Christianisation’ in the Bekasi municipality.
According to reports from Barnabas Fund, nine members of different Islamic organisations have recommended that each mosque should have its own armed militia and that the Bekasi municipality should introduce some sharia-compliant policies.
The regional leader of the Indonesian Muslim Forum, Bernard Abdul Jabbar, has been reported as saying ‘they will guard the Islamic faith and preach the right path to the people’.
This is more than mere posturing. Barnabas Fund claims that in July a banner showing a Christian man, 29-year-old Andreas Sanau, with a noose around his neck, was hung outside a mosque in Bekasi with the words, ‘This man deserves the death penalty’.
Murhali Barda, local leader of the Islamic Defenders Front, joined the roadshow group and is reported as saying, ‘We want to strike fear in the hearts of Christians who behave in such a way. If they refuse to stop what they’re doing, we’re ready to fight’.
