Indonesia's influential Muslim council warns of backlash if aid groups beg

[Judi Lynn]

Indonesia's influential Muslim council warns of backlash if aid groups begin to proselytize
YEOH EN-LAI, Associated Press Writer

Friday, January 14, 2005

(01-14) 03:58 PST BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) --

Indonesia's most influential group of Islamic clerics on Friday warned of a widespread Muslim backlash if international aid groups involved in relief efforts in tsunami-battered Aceh province begin proselytizing and adopting children orphaned from the Dec. 26 disaster.

"This is a reminder. Do not do this in this kind of situation," Dien Syamsuddin, secretary-general of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, said after Friday prayers in the main mosque of the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

"The Muslim community will not remain quiet. This a clear statement, and it is serious," Syamsuddin said, declining to elaborate on how the community would respond.
(snip)

Syamsuddin was referring to reports that U.S.-based welfare organization WorldHelp had planned to adopt 300 Acehnese children orphaned by the quake and raise them in a Christian children's home.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/01/14/international0658EST0470.DTL

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Gee

What the hell is WorldHelp trying to do. They need to understand the mindset of the people in Indonesia.

I am from Malaysia and I can tell you this is serious. Better if WorldHelp back of from this stand or many aid workers will be put in jeopardy.

[tapper]

2. Same thing as last century: taking Native American children...

... away from their families and putting them in schools, denying them their natal language, their culture, their religion. It's not so much that WorldHelp and their ilk need to understand an Indonesian's 'mindset' , as to understand how wrong their own is. The 'mindset' that 'christianity' is the one true religion, and that it's justified to do almost anything for the ends of 'saving' people's souls -- whether it's attaching sermons to disaster relief, indoctrinating orphaned children en-masse, or in other times and places, lying or converting with the edge of a sword.

[Oversea Visitor]

3. Indonesia has 22 million christian

They were happy and safe until the 911 issue and the fact that Bush turn this into a religion bashing thingy. Last christmas Indonesia deploy 10,000 troops to guard all the churches so that christian can go celebrate christmas mass in chruches. Sadly there will always be fanatic that use religion to further their own cause.

[Igel]

5. Aceh's had an insurgency for decades.

If you believe what they say, they want Shari'a imposed, and view the Indonesian government as going contrary to Islam.

JI doesn't date from late 1991. And the problems in the Moluccas didn't crop up after september '01, either.

[Oversea Visitor]

10. I know

Although one call Indonesian a muslim country, it practise freedom of religion and guess what Merry Christmas is ok with them.

[DulceDecorum]

6. Moloch needs some children

to help build his topeth.

Now go Google that.

[David__77]

4. One great legacy of President Sukarno...

...is the fierce determination of the Indonesian people to safeguard their sovereignty and national dignity. Even the fascist nation-selling Suharto couldn't wipe that out.

[Guns Aximbo]

7. Nazi's did that to...

Polish children. Tried to make them nazis.

[NYC]

8. I think Switzerland did it to gypsies.

Projuvenal.

I don't see anything on Google, but that was the name of their program.

[Desperadoe]

9. Tsunami Orphans Won't Be Sent to Christian Home

The Virginia-based missionary group WorldHelp has dropped its plans to place 300 Muslim "tsunami orphans" in a Christian children's home, the group's president, the Rev. Vernon Brewer, told news agencies yesterday.

The children were still in the Muslim province of Aceh and had not been airlifted to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, according to an e-mail under Brewer's name circulating yesterday among his supporters.

In an interview Tuesday for an article published in yesterday's Washington Post, Brewer said that the children already had been airlifted to Jakarta and that the Indonesian government had given permission for them to be placed in a Christian children's home. Brewer did not return calls from The Post yesterday to his home, office and cell phone to address the discrepancy.

In the e-mail, as well as in statements given to Reuters and Agence France-Presse, Brewer said WorldHelp had raised $70,000 to place 50 of the children in a Christian orphanage but had halted its efforts when it learned on Wednesday that the Indonesian government would not allow it.<snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7535-2005Jan13.html