Indonesia President: Religious Tolerance Best Response to Terrorism
Posted on Tue Feb 24, 2015 at 06:51:47 PM EST
Tags: Bali, Indonesia (all tags)
Indonesia President Joko Widodo said this month Indonesia's approach to terrorism is one of tolerance, not security.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Wednesday that Indonesia practiced religious tolerance and was using cultural approaches to eradicate terrorism in the country, rather than adopting a security approach.
“We have shown that tolerance and mutual respect is strong and we always take the middle ground [...]. So there is no immense extremism and that is what other countries see [in us],” said Jokowi on the last day of the sixth Indonesian Muslims Congress (KUII) in Yogyakarta.
Widodo and Indonesia insist on executions of drug mules as a response to the problem of drug trafficking, but for the danger of terrorists, they urge “soft” religious and cultural approaches." Just like Indonesia offers "get of jail free" cards to terrorists.[More...]
No wonder Indonesia is such a recruiting ground for terrorists. More than 300 have left to fight with ISIS in Syria. Here's the ISIS video "Join the Ranks" (no violence) with English translations in which Indonesian ISIS members try to recruit those at home. Just yesterday, authorities in West Java were warning of ISIS reruitment efforts in the area.
Bali and Indonesia have been the site of a lot of bombings, from night clubs to hotels to embassies. Indonesia executed three bombers, but granted clemency and early release at least 36 others. Only 5 got life sentences.
Here's a very interesting account by a New York Times reporter of his attempt in 2008 to interview Imam Samudra, one of the home-grown 2002 Bali nightclub bombers sentenced to death and later executed. The interview took place at Batu Prison, the same prison on Nusa Kambangan Island now preparing isolation cells for the 11 traffickers facing imminent execution.
(There are seven prisons on the Island, and those facing imminent execution are housed at Batu Prison. The island has two shooting fields used for executions by firing squad: the Nirbaya and Li- musbuntu shooting fields.)
Here's a photo of the island (half of which is a tourist destination and the other half reserved for prisons.
It doesn't look much different than the beach ISIS used to kill the Coptic Christians.
For that matter, photos of Indonesian firing squads don't look much different than the pictures of ISIS firing squads. Perhaps that's because they both kill drug traffickers. Killing is killing.
It's completely illogical that the President of Indonesia would recommend treating would-be terrorists with soft gloves but insist on killing non-violent drug traffickers, including rehabilitated and repentant drug mules like Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. As one of the Bali bombing surivors says, "You’re better off being a terrorist than a drug mule in Indonesia — it just blows my mind."
There are beautiful beaches all over the world. Visit the Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives or Fiji. Please don't give your tourist dollars to a country that kills non-violent drug offenders. And if you're buying products at home, check to make sure they aren't made in Indonesia.
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