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Tension Mounts as Groups Protest Plan to Burn Koran
Ulma Haryanto | September 06, 2010

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia activists at a rally outside the US Embassy in Jakarta on Saturday. A US church has said it will burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (AFP Photo/Aldo Utama) Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia activists at a rally outside the US Embassy in Jakarta on Saturday. A US church has said it will burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (AFP Photo/Aldo Utama)
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sirlance
10:23am Sep 8, 2010

SirAnthony,

Thanks for the stats. May all the victims (whatever religion or race) rest in peace.

SirAnthonyKnown-Bender
9:35am Sep 8, 2010

Over 1200 Muslims died in the 9/11 attacks Sirlance when the US finally had done to it what it regularly dishes out on the rest of the world. Also perhaps worth pointing out though that Muslims themselves enjoy a good session of book burning too (the Bible in demos in Pakistan and Afghanistan and, of course, a big story from my teenage years, Mr. Rushdie's Satanic Verses, an author who was sentenced to death from a foreign country for exercising his right to free speech, and the famous Danish cartoons of course). Then of course there are the many people who have been murdered by fundamentalists for voicing their opinions whilst the moderately religious (including Christians) berate those who would speak, as opposed to those who would kill them for blaspheming. Set these facts in the context of current row and you have religions who are perhaps hypocritical in trying to claim any kind of moral high ground. These few yahoos in the US are the usual reactionary fire and brimstone cretins however the principle of free speech is not something to be apologetically half explained away by those of faith, it's one of mankind's greatest achievements.

TGIF
1:14am Sep 8, 2010

@OzAbroad...."In the US this is showing Indonesia as a fanatical muslim country... But then again that is maybe what the protesters want!"

I am also following the same none sense on CNN and in local online news in the US...Nothing was said on the country as a whole and that the Indonesian protestors rallied peacefully in Jakarta. This is exactly the kind of report that the US readers would have wanted to know...and that the demonstrators did not trash the US Embassy. Unlike in some other nations who deliberately damage an embassy after hearing an unfortunate news du jour...


spammer
9:38pm Sep 7, 2010

More stories about religious shenanigans? What a surprise, seems it'a s never ending tirade these days. Will someone please pass out the cool aid there seems to be a lot more nutbags who need a good drinking...

Chop chop..

Frankly it amazes me how so many people have the extra curricular energy to bother with so much hate mongering.


sirlance
11:26am Sep 7, 2010

so much comment about 911 here. Does anyone know whomany Christian, Muslim, Jews, Hindus that died during that tragedy... any one care to find out..

Jakarta. As the weekend saw protests in different parts of the country against an American church’s plan to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by burning copies of the Koran, pluralism advocates on Sunday called for cooler heads to prevail and violence to be avoided.

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, said it will burn the Islamic holy book on the ninth anniversary of the terror attacks.

Local officials have denied a permit for the bonfire on the church’s grounds, but the center — which made headlines last year by distributing T-shirts that said “Islam is of the Devil” — insists it will go ahead with the plan.

In Jakarta on Saturday, about 3,000 members of the hard-line Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia marched to the US Embassy in Jakarta waving banners and posters condemning the plan.

The group organized similar rallies in five other cities across Indonesia.

In Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, about 400 members of the local HTI chapter staged a peaceful demonstration against the planned course of action. And in the East Java town of Sumenep, on Madura Island, HTI activists took to the streets on Friday.

Indonesian religious leaders have condemned the plan and called on US authorities to have the bonfire prohibited.

But Syafi’i Anwar, executive director of the International Center for Islam and Pluralism, believed that the people behind ‘Burn a Koran Day’ were minorities that were only looking for attention.

“Of course, people here can protest or condemn the act, but there would be no need to do anything beyond that,” he told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. He also called on authorities to urge the public to refrain from violence.

“There are groups that will try to provoke people, we don’t want this to happen,” he said.

“All major Christian organizations also condemn this act, so it is important for people to remain cool-headed,” he said.

Damien Dematra, a filmmaker and national coordinator for the Movement for Pluralism, said that he has been meeting with various religious organizations to make sure that their followers will refrain from violent acts.

“We have been meeting with organizations such as the MUI [Indonesian Council of Ulemas], Nadhlatul Ulama, and Muhammadiyah, as well as the KWI [Indonesian Council of Bishops] and PGI [Indonesian Communion of Churches]; all agreed that we should condemn the ‘Burn a Koran Day’ act and to make sure that everybody would stay calm,” he said, adding that he also met with the leader of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Habib Rizieq.

“He [Rizieq] also urged his followers to not take revenge on Christians. But at the same time he called for jihad, saying that whoever burns the Koran may be killed,” Damien said.

 
Additional reporting from AP, Antara