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| Southeast Asia |
| Muslim volunteers plan to guard Indonesian churches on Christmas |
| 2005-12-09 |
| Volunteers from Indonesia's largest Islamic organization will guard churches across the world's most populous Muslim nation on Christmas amid fears of terrorist attacks on those places, the group said on Friday. Jakarta police have said they would boost security in the capital ahead of Christmas to avoid a repeat of 2000 Christmas Eve bombings on churches in several Indonesian cities, including in the country's capital. A youth wing affiliated with Indonesia's largest Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama, some 40 million strong, told Reuters that members would guard churches for the coming Christmas festivities and it had persuaded youths from other religions to join theproject. "We have an annual program to set up posts to secureChristmas. For this year, I have contacted groups from other religions like the Hindus and Buddhists and they have responded positively," said Tatang Hidayat, national coordinator of NU's Banser group, known for its military-like uniform. Hidayat said the volunteers would closely collaborate with existing police operations and the churches' own security. Around 17,000 policemen are expected to safeguard Christmas celebrations in Jakarta alone. Although Indonesia has been relatively calm in recent weeks, many security analysts say threats of militant attacks still run high because police have yet to catch one of the alleged masterminds of previous bombings, Malaysian-born Noordin M. Top. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #5 If valid, this is a huge step forward, no matter how belated it might be. I remain intensely cynical over how long it has taken for gestures of this sort to occur but adamantly support and applaud them wherever they crop up. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-12-09 18:28 |
| #4 repost original please. "And God smiled." |
| Posted by: newc 2005-12-09 17:30 |
| #3 Sounds a bit like the fox guarding the henhouse if you ask me. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-12-09 15:35 |
| #2 moderate muslim watch |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2005-12-09 13:35 |
| #1 "We have an annual program to set up posts to secure Christmas." Gee, can we do that here? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-12-09 07:57 |