Posted on 12/01/2001 4:59:58 PM PST by marshmallow
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Thousands of Christian villagers on Indonesia's Sulawesi island are fleeing attacks by armed Muslim paramilitaries, clerics and media reports said Saturday.
Refugees are being housed in churches and government buildings, said Langgino Sangkide, a Roman Catholic priest from the town of Tentena.
"Thousands have fled," he said Saturday. "What could they do? Their houses have been burned. The police came yesterday, but it was too late."
The Jakarta Post newspaper reported that hundreds of homes in settlements around the coastal town of Poso had been destroyed by uniformed members of the Laskar Jihad militia group.
Fighting between Muslim and Christian villagers in Sulawesi, about 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta, has claimed at least 1,000 lives in the last two years. Dozens have been killed in recent weeks.
Laskar Jihad, based on Java island, has been accused of stoking a sectarian conflict in eastern Maluku province that has claimed about 9,000 lives since 1999.
A militia spokesman in Jakarta confirmed the group had been involved in fighting in the region but refused to comment on the latest reports. The group's Web site claimed that attacks on Muslims were being organized by Christian priests.
The Jakarta Post quoted Sulewesi's Roman Catholic bishop, Josef Suwatan, as saying armed militiamen had used bulldozers to destroy homes, churches and schools. The United Nations has warned that increasing tension in the region could trigger a flood of refugees. At least 50,000 people have already been displaced.
Suwatan appealed to the government to restore law and order in the region.
The government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri has been reluctant to rein in Muslim militants. Analysts say Megawati is indebted to conservative Muslim parties that supported her campaign to oust reformist president Abdurrahman Wahid in July.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. Nearly 85 percent of its 203 million people are Muslim. The rest are Christian, Hindu or Buddhist. ---
Jihad: 63,000 Christians To Be Slaughtered in Poso, Indonesia, in 2 Weeks
Coming soon to a town near you...
Check history, this is the M.O.
If you don't know, I can't tell you.
Oh, go back to sleep.
No, let repharase that question:
Do you have any idea about ANYTHING?
Oh, go back to sleep.
It's not as if they're going to cross the ocean...if we adopt the right laws...soon.
Americans shouldn't be foolish enough to live in places like that. When you leave a great country like this and live overseas...it's at your own risk.
LOL have you been asleep?
THEY CROSSED THE OCEAN AND CRASHED PLANES INTO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.
Islam=Religion of peace...until they gain control...then it is conversion by the sword.
Yes, people similar to them did. Then. Now, in light of those events, we have the chance to wake Americans up (ironic to use that phrase since people have hurled it at me here) and get them to advocate the right policies so that no more "similar" people to the 9/11 bombers ever show up here again. Of course, there are already holes in that plan, since Johnnie A**crack is planning to grant citizenship to those aliens who provide the U.S. information about OBL'w whereabouts...yup, new "citizens" whose inaugural act as "Americans" was ratting out their "brothers." To use an apt quote from Kim Cattrall..."how trustworthy can they be?"
It depends on what America is, and what Americans are. If you think that America is merely 50 states, and Americans are those who live in them, I guess the only way it affects us is that this is an example of what will happen to us if we continue to refuse to acknowledge just what Islam is. OTOH, if you think America is more than 50 states, and is, in addition, an idea, and Americans are representatives of that idea, then this takes on additional significance.
America is only 225 years old. Christianity is 2001 years old. The races are about 100,000 old. Gotta know where your loyalties are.
Maybe NRA should hire Father Sangkide as a spokesperson for the 2nd Amendment.
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.