Source/Credit: The Jakarta Post
By TJP | December 21, 2010
Nahdlatul Ulama’s affiliated non-governmental organization, Moderate Muslim Society (MMS), reports that West Java tops reports of religious intolerance.
“From 81 cases reported on [religious] intolerance, 49 cases, or 61 percent, took place in this province,” MMS Chairman Zuhairi Misrawi said at the Tolerance and Intolerance Report 2010 in Jakarta on Tuesday.
According to MMS data, cases of intolerance in West Java this year increased more than four times to 49 incidents, up from 11 in 2009.
Most cases occurred in the areas of Bekasi, Bogor, Garut and Kuningan.
“All of the victims of intolerance in Bekasi are Christians,” Zuhairi said.
Christians were barred from performing masses, their houses of worship were sealed and some HKBP members were attacked, he added.
Christians were also the victims in seven of the 10 incidents of intolerance documented in Bogor.
“In Garut and Kuningan the victims of intolerance were members of Ahmadiyah,” Zuhairi said.
Zuhairi attributed mounting intolerance to inaction of local authorities in West Java.
“There are also increasing numbers of groups acting violently in West Java. They need to be brought to dialog to understand diversity,” Zuhairi said.
Zuhairi called on the government to take stern actions toward the perpetrators of violence.
“Otherwise people will suspect that the government has deliberately protected extremist groups,” he said.
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