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Indonesia Police Put Kibosh on Israeli Day Event
Camelia Pasandaran, Arientha Primanita & Antara | May 13, 2011

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redman
11:56pm May 16, 2011

Many thanks Valkyrie, BrahmaPutra.

Valkyrie
5:19pm May 16, 2011

redman:

he has stated his email address as follows:

enakajah@gmail.com

ps

read "paradise lost" on Blog.

BrahmaPutra
5:08pm May 16, 2011

@rednab just click on Blogs on the top menu bar, now if you are running firefox it is a little trickier. the button is hidden under the home button. you need to mouse over the area nder the home button and then it becomes visible. from then on you should see it clear as day.

redman
4:37pm May 16, 2011

enakajah's blog URL please, anyone?

BrahmaPutra
5:32pm May 15, 2011

Hi Enak glad you are ok. excellent blogs. take care of yourself .

Police on Friday said a group of Indonesians would not be allowed to host an event on Saturday to mark Israel’s independence day.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said the Jewish community group had been denied a permit to observe the anniversary. “We did not grant the group permission to hold the event because [the request] was filed with very little time,” he said. “It should have been filed at least a week before.”

According to Anton, the police will also prevent the group from raising the Israeli flag.

Even though Israeli independence day, or Yom Ha’atzmaut, this year fell on Tuesday — the fifth day of the Jewish month of Iyar — the Indonesian group planned to hold its event on Saturday, corresponding with the date the Jewish state was founded according to the Gregorian calendar: May 14, 1948 .

The State Palace has backed the police’s decision, with presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha saying that activities with the potential to create “public unrest” should not be allowed.

The planned celebration outraged several Islamic organizations, with the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) urging the government to put a stop to the celebration.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali also warned against marking the event, saying it would not be appropriate because Indonesia did not formally recognize Israel and has long called for it to cede control of the occupied Palestinian territories.

“It would be strange to celebrate it because we don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel and there’s a psychological gap between the Indonesian and Israeli people,” he said.

“There should be regulations in which the interests of the nation and people should come before the freedom of others.”

Ifdhal Kasim, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), however, said there was no reason to prevent the group from holding the event. “Just because we don’t have formal diplomatic relations with Israel doesn’t mean we should ban [a planned celebration by] citizens with different views from the government’s official stance,” he said. “It’s part of the freedom of expression that’s guaranteed under the law.”

However, he said the celebration should be banned if its aim was to provoke certain groups.

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud M.D., meanwhile, called for the dispute not to be blown out of proportion.

“I don’t think this issue should be sensationalized,” he said. “Just let them be. If we make this an issue, then the [group] can question the planned celebrations of other groups.”