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| Southeast Asia |
| Indon veep sez knock off with the sharp things... |
| 2002-10-25 |
| Vice President Hamzah Haz has urged radical Muslim groups to abandon their habit of carrying sharp weapons during demonstrations. "Please, do not bring any weapons such as machetes, sticks, much less firearms," he said in his address at the opening of the National Working Congress of the Indonesian Mosques’ Council on Friday. Does this mean they're tired of the nonsense from these yokels? He said Muslims wishing to protest against vice at nightspots should That, and a couple off-hours visits by Big Mamoud... The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has often staged violent raids against nightspots, but several FPI members, including the group’s leader, were arrested earlier this month. Haz praised Islamic groups that chant verses of the Koran whenever they carry out any activity. "Believe me, nightclubs and cafes will close down [by the force of Koranic verses]," he said. He's probably right. People who just want to spend an evening enjoying themselves will have a hard time of it with hundreds of Islamic rubes standing around caterwauling. They can't go to non-Islamic places in Indonesia like Bali anymore, because people blow them up, so they'll probably go to Manila or Singapore, and Indonesia can remain not only a cultural and social, but also an economic backwater. Give them a few years and they might even put in a special guest appearance at one of those U.N. "hunger summits," even though their country is mostly fertile and productive; if you spend all your time stomping through the streets with the other bully boys, you're not doing anything that'll result in grocery production, are you? That's left to the common folk... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |