Spate of anti-Christian attacks

West Java has witnessed a spate of anti-Christian attacks in the last few months. In December 2009, at Islamic New Year, thousands of demonstrators stormed a church in Bekasi regency, setting objects on fire. On 31 December the authorities in East Bekasi, under the influence of hard-line Muslim groups, ordered a large church to stop its services and other activities. On 3 January 2010 hundreds of residents of the North Tambun sub-district prevented members of another church from taking part in services. In Bogor Regency Muslims took to the streets to protest against the building of a permanent church.

But incidents of intimidation and violence have been reported from other parts of Indonesia too, particularly from areas where militant Islamist groups are present and active. On 21 January, under pressure from such groups, the authorities ordered a church in Sepatan, in the Tangerang district of Banten province, to stop its services. The next day two Protestant churches and a pastor’s house were set on fire by a Muslim mob in Sibuhuan, in the Padang Lawas regency of North Sumatra. The Muslim community was said to be tired of seeing “too many faithful and too many prayers”. Many Muslims feel threatened by the explosive church growth of the last 50 years; church leaders estimate that Christians may number 15% or even 20% of the population.

Even in some areas where there is no violence, Christians are enduring intense pressure, arising either from government restrictions on religious freedom, or from the extension of Islamic sharia law. A prominent cleric from Indonesia's biggest Muslim organisation has said that sharia law should take precedence over laws passed by the country’s parliament.