Lee Jay Walker

Tagged with another islamic nightmare, backwardness and islam, christian persecution in somalia, fanatics in somalia stone people to death, islamic brutality, islamic hatred, islamic sharia law means brutality, killing in the name of islam, mohammed supported hatred, Mohammed supported killing apostates, persecution and islam, radical sunni islam, somalia and hatred, somalia and killing christians, somalia and stoning people to death, sunni islamic fanatics in somalia

Written by leejayuk

November 27, 2009 at 9:10 am

Posted in AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL NEWS, RELIGIOUS ISSUES

Racist Ishihara fails to get 2016 Olympic Games

Racist Ishihara Fails to Get 2016 Olympic Games

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent – THE SEOUL TIMES

Shintaro Ishihara, governor of Tokyo

Victory for Rio!

Japan failed to get the 2016 Olympic Games despite glossing over the racist governor of Tokyo. Yet clearly the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, was the weak link in the chain because he might be forgiven for being a racist in Tokyo but the same did not apply to the wider world. Therefore, will the people of Tokyo wake up to the reality of Ishihara?

Firstly, I would like to state that The Seoul Times published several articles about Ishihara and the racial nature of this individual. I myself informed several major organizations about Ishihara and notified them about past statements he made with regards to other ethnic groups and towards women.

I am not claiming that this was the reason why Ishihara lost, of course not, that would be foolhardy and over-playing my role because I was just one of many committed people and organizations who were against the Tokyo bid.

Also, the reason behind the failure of Tokyo’s bid will be multiple and maybe my articles had no impact what so ever, I will never know. However, I, other individuals, and organizations, did our best to inform the wider world and it shows you that the grass roots can’t be ignored.

I will concede that many innocent members of the Tokyo bid did a very good job, however, I believe that they had little hope because of the past deeds of Ishihara. After all, Ishihara clearly played a back seat and he was no robust Governor during this bid, instead he looked out of touch with the modern world.

How ironic that multi-cultural Rio won the bid and that a superstar like Pele is visibly the anti of what Ishihara likes.

Remember, Ishihara is clearly a dangerous maverick and he is an individual who panders to anti-foreign bashing when the time pleases him. More alarming, he is a revisionist of history and a person who denies the Rape of Nanking (Nanjing).

Ishihara stated that the Rape of Nanjing is a myth because he commented that “They say we made a holocaust there, but that is not true. It is a lie made up by the Chinese.” Yet the Rape of Nanjing did take place and both official documents and other forms of evidence are clearly available.

Also, like I stated in my article “Japan under Ishihara must not be given the 2016 Olympics,” I commented that Ishihara stated that “old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin.” He is clearly stating that women have no value once they have lost their reproductive function and this is a far cry from the equality of the Olympic movement.

In truth, Tokyo should have had a great chance of winning the 2016 Olympic bid because they have not held the summer Olympics for a very long time. Also, it is abundantly clear that the infrastructure of Tokyo is very high and crime is not an issue.

Yet despite this, and the sheer size of the economy of Tokyo and all the other positives, it was clear that Ishihara was the weak spot and he could not be kept out of the picture.

Another weakness of the bid was that it looked like “an elite bid” which would merely develop wealthy parts of Tokyo and the “human side” appeared to take a back seat. However,　London, despite many parts of this city being wealthy, focused on developing a neglected part of London where unemployment and other negative social issues are a reality.

The Tokyo bid was more like a United Nations bid and too much focus was put on the environment and it was clear that many people from Tokyo were disinterested because the elitist Ishihara does not understand “the real world.”

I am sad for all the decent people of Tokyo who wanted this city to emerge victorious. However, I am glad that Tokyo lost because it would have given a dangerous legacy and more important, it would have given a rampant racist and sexist a chance to revitalize nationalism in Japan.

How ironic that multi-cultural Rio emerged victorious and surely this will add “salt to the wounds” of Ishihara.

Maybe the campaign led by The Seoul Times, other individuals, and organizations, did not sway the International Olympic Committee? However, the Olympic dream is based on the fraternity of all nations and supports sexual equality; therefore, I am going to dream “that justice won,” even if other factors were at play in the downfall of the Tokyo Olympic bid.

LEE JAY WALKER

Tagged with governor of tokyo and racism, ishihara denies the rape of nanjing, Ishihara denies the Rape of Nanking, ishihara is a far-right nationalist, ishihara is out of touch, ishihara was the weak link, racist ishihara, racist ishihara fails to get olympic games, racist ishihara the governor of tokyo, revisionist ishihara, tokyo olympic bid failed because of racist ishihara, tokyo olympic bid fails, tokyo olympic bid was elitist

Written by leejayuk

October 2, 2009 at 7:18 pm

Posted in ASIA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL NEWS

PAPUAN Fault Lines: Part 2: Nationalist dreams

Papuan Fault Lines: Part 2: NATIONALIST DREAMS

By John M. Gorrindo
Indonesian Correspondent - THE SEOUL TIMES

Morning Star Flag: - WEST PAPUA

Morning Star Flag: The flag of West Papua or The Morning Star flag (Indonesian Bintang Kejora) represented the territory of West New Guinea from Dec. 1, 1961 until Oct. 1, 1962 when the territory came under administration of the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA).

1969’s Act of Free Choice was only the more obvious betrayal suffered by Papuan nationalists. The expectation of self-determination as inspired by the Dutch was in many ways more damaging, for the Papuans were to feed on dreams the Dutch could never materialize.

During the interim between Indonesian independence and the 1962 signing of the New York Agreement, those few Papuan tribes who interacted with their Dutch colonialists in all manner of exchange were put on the fast track headed for Papuan independence. For those West Papuans drawn into the impending but unforeseen historical shift about to transform Papua forever, Dutch support and preparations fueled both a nationalist hope, and maybe more importantly- a nationalist identity. With the notion of a nationalist identity, so arose a Papuan elite as well. Amongst the elite, there wasn’t unanimity as concerns taking up the responsibility for becoming a new nation state. Some Papuan leaders favored incorporation into Indonesia. As such, tribal divides existed. But internal differences between the few coastal peoples caught-up in the independence movement were very different in kind as compared with the dynamics of the coastal versus highland tribal groups. Nonetheless, direct Dutch involvement in making ready a transition to statehood prompted a growing sense of a “Papuan identity” amongst both coastal and some highland tribes.

Midwife to the birth of Papuan Nationalism, the Dutch not only encouraged but nearly charged the West Papuans to politically ready themselves for decolonization. By the time the Act of Free Choice quashed these hopes, several homegrown political organizations had been formed and their plans for independence circulated throughout much of the territory for a decade. Nationalist dreams and aspirations were freely being discussed in Papuan meeting halls as presided over by Papuan-created and controlled political councils.

The First “Papuans”

From the turn of the 20th century until the outbreak of World War II and the Japanese invasion, the territorial administration of what was still known as Dutch New Guinea was composed of three factions- a top echelon of Dutch appointed by the government in the Netherlands, and a mix of both Indonesian and indigenous Papuan civil servants. For decades the Dutch had trained and transferred Indonesians from places such as the nearby Mulukas into Papua to take up administrative duties. As the concerted missionary work that had long been at work in Papua had succeeded in converting and educating select tribes, Papuans themselves began to step forward and take a place in the governance or their own land. These few individuals and their families constituted the first Papuan elite.

But just who were the “Papuan elite” exactly, and what were the ethnic, lingual, and tribal fault lines that distinguished and potentially divided them from other Papuans? Papuans from three areas dominated the group hand picked by the Dutch and who would become the first to receive transfer of power. They originated from the small coastal city of Hollandia (the Dutch’s main territorial administrative center and later renamed Jayapura) and two small islands- Biak and Yapen (including the important town and area of Serui). Both of these offshore islands are located in the northwest, just east of the Bird’s Head peninsula and west of Hollandia. Because of their coastal proximity to Hollandia, all three areas and their inhabitants had long histories of contact with the Dutch and other foreign trade powers, including Asians such as the Chinese and Japanese. A significant number of these people were the sons and daughters of literate parents, had been educated in Dutch schools, were conversant in the Dutch language, had either been converted into Christianity or had had contact with Dutch missionaries, and generally understood much about European ways.

Interestingly, the two islands very much saw the future of Papua differently. Biak was strongly supportive of Papuan independence whereas Serui thought it better to incorporate into the Indonesia republic. Despite this substantial difference, the two groups together embodied those tribes in Papua best suited to participate in Papua’s administration, no matter who would be in control. They saw themselves as important stakeholders, no matter the outcome of the decolonization process. Above and beyond their own fault lines, they acted more in mutual cooperation than not.

After General MacArthur’s 1944 invasion of Hollandia, the Japanese occupation of West Papua came to an end. The Dutch quickly reestablished themselves and their new Dutch Resident, J.P.K. van Eechoud, a former policeman, immediately set to work establishing the special schools for training young Papuans to become teachers, police, nurses, and civil officials. These schools were built mainly in the coastal communities already mentioned. Only 40,000 Papuans inhabited the communities so-effected and that out of a total West Papuan population of 700,000. To insure inclusion, Van Eechoud did his best to seek out young candidates for his training centers from all around the territory “so as to broaden local identities into a Papuan one.” Despite his best recruiting efforts, one-half of all qualified candidates came from the ranks of those very few tribes living along the coast and close to the schools themselves.

Van Eechoud’s students understood the essentially political purpose of his policies. He told them as early as 1945 that they had to study diligently because they were “the new Papuans for a new New Guinea.” The Papuan graduates of Van Eechoud’s schools were in some senses the “first” Papuans as well as the first generation of Papuan nationalists in that they were the ones that began to think of themselves as being members of a broader pan-Papuan society, not merely a member of a particular ethno-linguistic group.

For his dedication to the Papuan people and their aspirations for self-determination, Van Eechoud was revered as a father figure by the Papuans. He was honored by his students with the name “Bapak Papua”- Father of Papua. Van Eechoud may be the sole honoree and occupant of an otherwise empty pantheon of those Dutchman lionized in their lifetime by any significant group of indigenous peoples in the greater archipelago.

Van Eechoud’s mission to prepare West Papuans for ultimate decolonization was fully incorporated into Dutch territorial policy in1952 when the Dutch officially recognized the right of Papuans to self-determination and systematically put the territory on a full-blown independence track. Van Eechoud’s like-minded successor, Th. H. Bot, directed policy towards political objectives. He ordered Dutch officials to recruit Papuans qualified to become potential candidates for representative councils, government advisors, and given a political science education in general. Arrangements were made to send these candidates abroad to Holland and other places as well.

Like Van Eechoud, Bot recognized that the rugged terrain and ethnic diversity of West Papua hadn’t ever allowed for a national awareness amongst the hundreds of tribes, and he moved to address the issue head-on. Along with the educational institutions already set into motion, Bot promoted a Papuan Volunteers Corps (PVC) and the landmark New Guinea Council which was, in effect, the first Papuan deliberative body made up almost exclusively of indigenous Papuans. Bot also believed it necessary that in order for Papuans to establish a national identity, they must come to see themselves belonging to the same peoples as indigenous to the Australian-administered territories, and not to any Malay Indonesian race or ethnicity. This would be a Melanesian identification, belonging to an independent state, but linked in all important ways to the West. A greater geostrategic sense was factored into Bot’s modus operandi. Of paramount importance was to insure not only a free Papua, but a Papuan identity free from any sense of belonging to Indonesia.

These developments irked the Indonesian government to no end, and it stepped up its international protests. After a dozen years of growing tension over West Papuan territory, things came to a head with the election of President John F. Kennedy in November 1960. A change of American administrations provided the catalyst for both a flurry of Dutch diplomatic proposals and insurgencies by the Indonesian military. Aggressions into Papuan territorial land and waters took place in November 1960, September 1961, and most significantly in January 1962 under the new operational name of Mandala headed by Brigadier General Suharto.

The uptick of Indonesian violence in 1961-1962 was the direct result of at least two major events. First, in September 1961 Dutch Foreign Minister Luns presented a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on West New Guinea’s future. The “Luns Plan” proposed an end to Dutch sovereignty and the establishment of a UN administration in “West New Guinea” to supervise and organize a plebiscite to decide the territory’s final status. In November the proposal came to a UNGA floor vote and passed, but did not garner the two-thirds vote required, so it failed. Indonesia was determined that the vote would not be raised in the UN again.

Second- and even more alarming to President Sukarno- was the growing projected power of newly formed nationalist organizations in West Papua presided over by indigenous Papuans themselves. This was perhaps the most ominous sign for the Indonesians that the Dutch were doing everything possible to make a success of handing over colonial control.

One of the most important of these political groups was the already mentioned West New Guinea Council. The council was just as alarmed by the Luns plan as was Sukarno. As Luns never conferred with the Papuans over his plan, there was resentment given their exclusion from political proposals deeply affecting their future. In rapid response to the proposal, members of West New Guinea Council and another prominent Papuan political organization, PARMA, convened jointly in Hollandia on October 19, 1961. The delegates were drawn from most regions of the territory, they included both Christians and Muslims, and all but one of them was Papuan. They elected seventeen people to form a Komite Nasional Papua. The Komite knew they must be proactive in asserting the Papuan preference for self-determination. They immediately issued a Manifest Politik making demands to the Dutch that Papuan voices be heard in the decolonization process.

The Manifest asked that the Netherlands New Guinea be renamed West Papua, and it called for the immediate use of Papuan national symbols alongside the Dutch ones. As addressed to the New Guinea Council and the government of the Netherlands, the core of the document stated:

“On the basis of the desire of our people for independence, we urge through the mediation of the Komite Nasional and our popular representative body, the New Guinea Council, that the governments of Netherlands New Guinea and the Netherlands take action to ensure that, as of November 1st, our flag be flown beside the Netherlands flag; our national anthem, Hai Tanahku Papua, be sung along with the Wilhelmus; the name of our land become West Papua; the name of our people become Papuan.

On this basis we the Papuan people demand to obtain our own place among the other free peoples and nations. In addition, we, the Papuan people, wish to contribute to the maintenance of the freedom of the world.”

The Manifest asked that the Netherlands New Guinea be renamed West Papua. The Manifest Politik was the first assertion of the Papuan demand to establish a new nation state.

But the raising of what would be known as the “Morning Star” flag did not mean that the Komite Nasional intended to declare the actual transfer of sovereignty. To that symbolic end, the flag was to be flown not alone but alongside the Dutch tricolors. So too, the decision to raise the flag was not unanimously supported. Some council members were concerned that ordinary Papuans would interpret a flag-raising as a declaration of independence and were not in support. Neither did the Manifest demand nor declare outright independence- only that Papuans be given a voice in the terms of decolonization.

Raising of the Morning Star Flag

The first raising of the flag was organized by the Komite Nasional and took place in front of the New Guinea Council building in Hollandia on December 1, 1961. Flag raising ceremonies took place throughout the territory as well. There was substantial interest shown by the Papuan people both in areas of strong support (such as Biak) or where support for Indonesia had deep roots (Serui & Yapen).

Sukarno’s retaliation was swift. On December 19, 1961 and less than three weeks after the flag raising, he gave his important TRIKORA speech (peoples’ triple command). It called for the total mobilization of the Indonesian people to “liberate” West Irian. Quickly following he ordered Suharto to organize Operasi Mandala and begin a new wave of military insurgencies.

This wave of insurgencies was in total a military failure. The first assault of Operasi Mandala occurred on January 15, 1962. Having disembarked from Jakarta and consisting of four torpedo boats and one hundred fifteen insurgents, the group was intercepted by Dutch in the Arafura Sea and more than half were killed including the operational commander, Commodore Yous Sudarso, Deputy Chief of the Indonesian naval staff. Known as the Battle of Arafura Sea, this insurgency was the third consecutive attack against the Dutch in West Papua to fail miserably since the September previous.

Sukarno’s military aggression constituted both a tactical failure and strategic success to the extent it signaled the international community Indonesian willingness to engage the Dutch in all-out war over the Papuan question.

The United Nations and the Kennedy administration were soon to respond all to Indonesia’s liking.

NOTE: This article is part of a series. Part III is soon to follow

JOHN M. GORRINDO

USA and the internal Islamic threat

USA and the Internal Islamic Threat

By Lee Jay Walker - THE SEOUL TIMES
Tokyo Correspondent

Terrorists’ attack on the World Trade Center buildings in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001

The United States is now gradually waking up to a growing internal Islamic menace which desires to kill in the name of Islam. In the past week you have had three different cases involving Islamists who desired to kill and intimidate the people of America. In the United Kingdom the same problem exists but just like in America, under President Obama, both nations are pandering to Islam and propagating false lies about this religion. Therefore, it is time to focus on the real factors behind the growing Sunni Islamic threat within America and in other nations.

The first important factor that must be understood is that this threat comes from radical Sunni Islam and not from Shia Islam. In America and the United Kingdom you have many Shia Muslims; however, it is clear that all major global Islamic terrorism derives from radical Sunni Islam.

It is also abundantly clear that the Ahmadiyya Muslim community is not involved in terrorism because their brand of Islam is based on different interpretations and this branch of Islam suffers greatly in Pakistan and other nations, for example in Indonesia. Therefore, it is vital to understand where the focus should be because Ahmadiyya Muslims and Shia Muslims, and other branches of Islam like the Alevi, must be split from where the problem exists.

In Lebanon you do have Shia terrorist organizations however they are focused on either internal problems in Lebanon or on the situation in Israel. Also, in Yemen you have current problems with the restive Shia population but once more this is an internal matter and not based on expanding jihad and the same applies to Shia organizations in Iraq and Pakistan.

Therefore, Islamic terrorist attacks in America, India, Indonesia, Kenya, the United Kingdom, and other nations, have all been done by radical Sunni Islamists. Also, the inspiration behind these terrorist attacks is coming from the same avenue and this avenue of terrorism and global Islamic jihad can be traced back to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

B. Raman, a specialist in this field stated in the South Asia Analysis Group, paper number 1767, that “While the Deobandi extremists have been backing—-openly or covertly—- Al Qaeda and its ideology, the Barelvis have been uncomfortable over it. Many of them have been critical of the use of the Pakistani territory by Al Qaeda and the (International Islamic Front) IIF for their terrorist operations in other countries. They have also been worried over the implications of the message disseminated by bin Laden in January, 2006, in which he claimed that plans for another terrorist strike in the US homeland were already underway.”

B. Raman also states that “There are two main groups of Sunni sectarian organisations in Pakistan—-the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, both strongly Deobandi-Wahabi-Salafi and both members of the IIF, and the Sunni Tehrik, strongly Barelvi and anti-Deobandi-Wahabi-Salafi. Since many years, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ have embarked on a campaign for the Arabisation and Wahabisation of the Barelvi Muslims and for removing the distorting influence of Hinduism. The Sunni Tehrik has been resisting the onslaught of the Deobandis, Wahabis and Salafis.”

Therefore, just like B. Raman points out, we can apply this to the international arena because the same forces and with Saudi financial backing, irrespective if government or organizations or wealthy individuals, is spreading the same message of hate to other nations far and wide. Yet why do nations like America, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom, and many others, allow this?

It is abundantly clear that the Muslim community in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s is very different to elements within the Muslim community today. According to B. Raman he states that “For the last fifteen years, there has been a conflict between the Deobandis and the Barelvis for the control of the mosques and their funds not only in Pakistan, but also in the UK. Previously, the Barelvis used to control the mosques in the UK frequented by immigrants from the sub-continent, but they have since been driven out by the Deobandis and Wahabis. This was the starting point for the radicalisation of the Pakistani-origin Muslims in the UK and in the other countries of West Europe. The ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence) has been supporting the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the LEJ in Pakistan as well as in West Europe.”

Therefore, it is clear that funding within Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is causing mayhem and it is obvious that you have “a war within Islam” and “an ongoing Islamic jihad” against moderate Muslims, other sects within Islam and against non-Muslims. Other channels of funding throughout the Middle East also applies but the mindset and ideological thinking is based on the same branches of Islam and it is clear where the counter-jihad must begin.

Yet amazingly, and even after September 11th, whereby nearly all Sunni Islamists were Saudi nationals; the United States destroyed a secular based nation in Iraq and ignored the greater problem. After all, how many American soldiers and other international forces have been killed by radical Saudi Islamists in Iraq or by Saudi Arabian organizations which preach jihad and hatred?

Given this, it appears that the focus of attention is based on the wrong area and even today Saudi Arabian funding is creating mayhem in mainly Muslim societies or mainly non-Muslim societies where Muslim minorities are growing.

Walid Phares, author of “The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad,” and of many other books and a senior expert in this field, stated “Petro-Islamism is also having a big impact in the higher education sector. As Walid Phares, an expert on global terrorism remarks in The War of Ideas (2007), globally, “a wave of oil funding hit university after university, college after college, and research centre after research centre. The objectives were fully ideological: further the cause of Islam, support the Palestinian cause, and plant the seeds of the concept of an illegitimate West.”

In Britain, a report about the growing rise of Islamic funding by Brunel University’s Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies highlighted the nature of the problem. The report stated that more than $491 million dollars have been spent on funding Islamic study centres and other forms of propagation. These institutions include Cambridge and Oxford, therefore, radical Islamists have gained a foothold in major circles.

I myself studied at the University of London and radical Islam was clearly a daily problem and militants were often trying to spread their hatred and propaganda. It is also noticeable that Omar Sheikh who was convicted for the beheading of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, also studied at the London School of Economics.

Getting back to the radical Sunni Islamic threat then it is vital to confront this threat openly and to stop hiding behind liberalism, moral relativism, or untold excuses for why we must understand the causes behind radical Sunni Islam. The apologist brigade, for example Karen Armstrong, and countless others, portray Islam to be a religion of peace but Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, did not show much peace towards his enemies, instead he either enslaved them, had them killed or they were exiled.

Another important factor which must not be overlooked is history. For example the Buddhist/Hindu lands which are now called Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan (especially influenced by Zoroastrianism), and other nations; all allowed diversity despite occasional bouts of religious tensions. Therefore, you had Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Nestorian Christians, Pagans, Zoroastrians, and other faiths, all mingling together in a vast region

However, the onset of Islam changed all this because over time in both Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, the older religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism (the oldest religion), would be Islamized because of several factors.

These factors were multiple but clearly the role of Islamic jihad, dhimmitude, jizya, massive persecution, slavery, forced conversion, control of resources, and so forth, all culminated in a tide of Islamization.

Yet the leaders of these areas would also have believed that accommodation could have been met and that Islam was just another religion. However, Islam is based on victor and vanquished, and this religion is more like an ideology because it fuses religion, politics, economics, law, and the regulation of society, together and clearly non-Muslims are unequal (indeed Buddhists and Hindus are deemed to be subhuman because they are not people of the Book) in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

Even in 2009 apostates from Islam can be killed in accordance with the teachings of Mohammed and other religious believers are still suffering from Islamization. This applies to Christians being burnt alive in Pakistan, apostates from Islam being killed in Somalia, attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, persecution of Baha’is in Iran, Christian pastors being beheaded in northern Nigeria, Assyrian Christians and other minorities (Shabaks, Yazidis and Mandaean) also fear daily attacks and the same applies to the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.

The forces of Islamic jihad is ongoing and Buddhists face severe persecution in southern Thailand and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (also Christian and Hindu tribal’s) in Bangladesh and of course Buddhism in history always collapsed when Islamic armies conquered their lands.

I stated in a past article, that “Today, just like the 7th century, Islam is still killing apostates or persecuting them. Today, just like in the 7th century, Muslims are still waging wars against non-Muslims in countless numbers of nations. Today, just like the 7th century, Muslim fanatics are still killing fellow Muslims who are deemed to be not Muslim enough.”

“The apologists will keep on making excuses; however, it is clear that in many parts of the Islamic dominated world, that hatred still dictates. Therefore, in 2009, just like in the 7th century, non-Muslims still suffer enormous persecution and some Islamists are still dreaming of spreading Islam by the sword or by propaganda.”

Now this war against non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike is being waged in northern Nigeria against Christians, against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Pakistan, against Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and against Buddhists in southern Thailand. The same also applies to countless other conflicts or nations where minorities suffer enormous persecution, for example the persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt.

This jihad is now being propagated within nations like America and the United Kingdom. Yet how can you confront your enemy when you have to play by political correctness, pander to the very same people who want to enforce Islamic Sharia law on you or have dialogue with a religion which supports killing all apostates and treating non-Muslims unequally in Islamic Sharia law?

If we ignore the past diversity of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, then one day our civilizations may end up the same way?

After all, just like the past, religious leaders and elites within the Buddhist, Hindu, Nestorian Christian, and Zoroastrian communities did not understand the true nature of Islam. However, by the time they understood it was too late and today Buddhism in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a distant memory and the same applies to Zoroastrianism in Uzbekistan. At the same time, in the modern world Buddhism may soon be a distant memory in southern Thailand if Islamists get their way and maybe Iraq will soon have no more Mandaeans?

Walid Phares comments on recent events in America and states that “The North Carolina cell, the New York subway plot, the Dallas attempt, the Illinois case, added to the previous cases of the shooting of a soldier in Arkansas, the precedent New York cells, Georgia’s young Jihadists, all the way back to the infamous Virginia paintball network, if anything gives us the genome of what is morphing inside the country — a vast body of dispersed cells with at least one binding force — the Jihadi ideology. The question thus is to find out who is propagating the doctrines of Jihadism: who is funding it; who is protecting the indoctrination operation which leads naturally to the rise of homegrown or foreign linked, lone wolves or packs of Jihadists, Terrorists. That is the real question: where is the factory?”

Therefore, it is vital to stop major funding which is spreading radical Sunni Islam and to focus on where the threat is. It is also vital that national governments work together and that history is not forgotten. Also, more attention must be focused on persecution and injustice “within the House of Islam” and the “real Mohammed” must be told instead of the Western liberal version which is bent on appeasement and revisionism.

LEE JAY WALKER

http://www.leejay13.wordpress.com

Written by leejayuk

September 29, 2009 at 5:09 am

Fault Lines in PAPUA: Part 1

WEST PAPUA_map_Univ. of Texas.jpg

Fault Lines in Papua: Part I

By John M. Gorrindo
Indonesian Correspondent - THE SEOUL TIMES

Dani Hubla tribe, West Papua

The long list of names Papua has been given over the past one hundred years is testament to the interminable struggle and territorial chaos that has plagued the easternmost part of Indonesia. Under Dutch colonial rule, the territory was called Dutch New Guinea or West New Guinea. Once wrested from the Dutch by the emerging republic of Indonesia some sixteen years after World War II, Indonesia’s founding father and first president Sukarno renamed it Irian Barat (West Irian). After deposing Sukarno in 1965, Indonesia’s second president, Suharto, found Irian Jaya (Victorious Irian) a more glorious name lending itself to a greater sense of Indonesian territorial integrity. With the fall of Suharto’s thirty-two year New Order regime- and with some deference to the Papuan people in mind- a successor to Suharto, Indonesian President Wahid, recast the name to simply Papua. And finally, subsequent to Special Autonomy being granted the region by Jakarta in 2002, some members of the homegrown Papuan nationalist movement finally took matters into their own hands, and in an act of defiance, claimed a name of its own- West Papua.

Though the historically convoluted turmoil in West Papua is well understood and amply documented in international bodies such as the United Nations, academic circles around the world, and inside the state departments of the world’s leading capitals, the island’s agonized peoples have received scant attention or support from the international community. Realpolitik determines the world’s crisis agenda, and since World War II, Papua’s struggle to simply avoid annihilation let alone achieve a small measure of autonomy has yet to be put on anybody’s overburdened triage list.

In part this is a measure of how conflicted the world truly is as full-blown wars and fears of nuclear proliferation have put a vice-like grip on those leading actors who populate the world’s diplomatic stage and captured the attention of everyone else whose mission it is to seek peaceful resolution to the world’s greatest problems. But that doesn’t begin to explain anything about West Papua itself, or its history.

The hands-off policy towards West Papua on behalf of the United Nations as well as world and Southeast Asian regional superpowers has been much to the advantage of Indonesia’s domestic policies, its nationalist economic development, and most ironically even to its emerging democracy. Even though gross human rights violations, economic and racial discrimination, and rampant inequalities significantly characterize Indonesia’s treatment of the indigenous population of Papua’s black, Austro-Melanesians, the world has been content to look the other way, choosing rather to celebrate Indonesia’s vaunted modern progress. It has been a conscious choice on the part of the international community.

The saga surrounding the incorporation of West Papua into greater Indonesia provides a profound lesson for any student of 20th century geopolitics. But prior to opening that Pandora’s box of intrigue any serious investigation has to contemplate a question more fundamental to understanding the current fate of the remote region- how does a scattered population of three hundred ethno-lingual groups living in one of the world’s most intractable wildernesses take the forced journey required to bridge the chasm from the Stone Age to the 21st century in the span of a few decades and survive?

Consider this: Recent scientific expeditions into the remote mountainous interior of West Papua continue to discover still untouched environments where the unique animal life found there are approachable and can actually be handled. The terrestrial fauna experience no fear because they have never even been hunted by a human being. Pictures of biologists cuddling docile giant rats or endemic egg-laying echidnas would otherwise be thought of as having been staged, the animals so-darted with tranquilizers. Then, of course, there is the elusive hunt to photograph the some four dozen or so species of Birds of Paradise and Bowery birds that constitute the most beautiful related collection of winged creatures in the world. “Lost World” is a term often used to describe these only recently chartered wildernesses.

There are equally amazing reports of solitary individuals appearing from out of the swamps or jungles of West Papua who belong to tribes whose existence is still unbeknownst to even the other tribes in the area.

The answer to the survival question of an isolated collection of small tribes in a vast wilderness rich in natural resources lies in the fact that some of those tribes have not been as isolated as one might think. Coastal Papuans have had significant contact over periods of hundreds of years with several European and Asian powers- both in trade and as colonial subjects. They have learned foreign languages, been educated according to Western practice, and have adapted to the ways of invading colonial powers. Tribes of the interior were much more removed from the rest of the world. This profound difference in terms of historical contact with outsiders has created a fault line of its own in the history of Papuan Nationalism.

Geographically, West Papua occupies only the western half of a greater island, its eastern portion being the independent nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG). With no thought given to ethno or geographic boundaries, their shared border lies along the 141st parallel, and virtually splits the island- which is the second largest in the world- in half. Along West Papua’s one thousand meter spine runs the nearly unbroken chain of densely forested mountains known to the locals as the Pegunungan Maoke, or Snow Mountains. The Maoke’s grandest glacial covered palisades are the tallest peaks to be found between the Americas and the Himalayas, some reaching altitudes of over 5,000 meters. Once reaching sea level, the labyrinthine river drainage flowing down the Maoke’s steep southwestern facing escarpment on route to the Arafura Sea deposits its muddy load into vast deltas, creating the largest area of lowland swamps on the planet.

From snow-covered summits to mosquito-ridden swamp, such environmental extremes were considered impenetrable for hundreds of years by European explorers and colonial interlopers. Even though the Dutch had established themselves in the territory nearly four hundred years ago, it was only in few very small port settlements scattered along the coast that served as trading posts to other colonial holdings such as the nearby Malukus to the west. Missionaries and anthropologists made the first foyers into the wilds of Papua, but it wasn’t until the early 20th century that explorations into the interior were organized, and only in 1938 that the now-famous tourist destination of the Baliem Valley, home to the Grand Valley Dani, was first encountered by the Western world. It is in the greater highland areas like the Baliem Valley that to this day the largest percentage of indigenous Papuans still lives.

Indonesia’s proclaimed independence in 1945 nearly coincided with the discovery of the Baliem Valley. West Papua soon found itself caught up in the revolution of decolonization that was sweeping across Africa and Asia, with Indonesia being in the vanguard. The Dutch were finally forced both militarily and by means of international pressure to cede the bulk of their East Indies holding over to the newly formed Indonesian Republic- all except for West Papua. In 1949 at the Hague, Netherlands, the Dutch and Indonesian governments signed The Round Table Council Agreement and as a concession to “Netherlands nationalist feeling,” Indonesia agreed to leave Papua under Dutch occupation. Indonesia continued to fight hard against the provision, though, resurrecting the argument vociferously and to growing effect throughout the 1950’s.

Indonesia’s claim to Papua was based on the legal principle of “Uti possidetis juris”. Originating with Roman law, the principle was picked up again with the 19th century rise of nationalism in Europe and consequently both during the negotiation of the Versailles Treaty after World War I , the Yalta Treaty after World War II (though the Soviet Union did not abide by it), and the formation of the United Nations in 1945. “Uti possidetis” declares that new states would adopt the boundaries of their colonial predecessors. The United Nations helped administer this boundary-shaping principle during the sweeping decolonization that followed directly after World War II. During that revolutionary period which reshaped the geopolitical map of the world order, independence leaders such as Sukarno, Nasser, and Nehru seized upon the principle in their struggles to secure national boundaries for their new nation states.

After the signing of the Round Table Council Agreement, President Sukarno was quick to draw upon this rationale in his repeated calls for the incorporation of Papua. In addition, Sukarno declared Papua as part of Indonesia as historically defined by the sphere of influence established by ancient empires of maritime Java and Sumatra, most importantly those of Srivijaya and Majapahit. Not stopping there, Sukarno added divine justification:

“The Indonesia nation is the totality of all the human beings who, according to geopolitics ordained by God Almighty, live throughout the unity of the entire archipelago of Indonesia from the northern tip of Sumatra to Irian.”

There also existed the geopolitical fear on Indonesia’s part that the Dutch would use Papua as a base from which it would do everything it could to subvert Indonesia’s territorial integrity by sowing seeds of separatism for instance in the nearby Malukan islands, where significant portions of the people were resistant of being incorporated into Indonesia and still held sympathies for the Dutch.

Territorial integrity became Indonesia’s highest priority during the country’s fledgling years. Sukarno never ceased to press the international community on the Papuan issue and made it a centerpiece of his agenda as advanced to all world leaders he contacted. It became evident to the world’s powers that Indonesia was willing to go to war with the Dutch over territorial possession of Papua if the Dutch could not be otherwise persuaded to cede their last holdings in the archipelago.

With the rise of a new global nationalism based on the principle of self-determinism, history was on the side of the Indonesian Republic. The Dutch struggled to hold on to Papua but by the mid-1950’s had quietly self-conceded that it had to choose between handing over Papua to the Indonesians, or help the Papuans to become independent and sovereign. Time was of the essence. Those elite Papuans who had been given education and civil service positions in local Dutch administration were further primed for leadership of a free Papua. But this gesture toward the Papuans was more mercenary than not. First and foremost, the Dutch in no way wished for West Papua to fall into Indonesian hands. There was not unanimity of support for Papuan independence amongst the Dutch themselves, though, as Dutch business interests were fearful of losing their existing and future contracts with the Indonesian government. Indonesia was adverse to the Dutch as colonialists, but hadn’t gone as far as to turn away their investments.

The Netherland’s push to prepare Papuans for self-governance came too little, too late. Cold War politics would intervene to evacuate the Dutch and seal Papua’s fate. In 1961, the Dutch were pressured by the newly elected Kennedy administration of the United States to virtually hand over Papua to the Indonesians. By the time Dutch preparation for Papuan independence had begun in earnest, the Cold War had quickly evolved into a worldwide struggle between the United States and the communist blocs of the Soviet Union and Communist China.

Compounding this was Indonesia’s strategic place in the greater conflict. The geopolitical repercussions had an overriding affect on the Papuan situation. The Kennedy administration was concerned that siding with the colonial Dutch in the struggle over West Papua would alienate President Sukarno, helping to deliver Indonesia into the communist sphere of influence. Kennedy demanded the Dutch take heed to Cold War priorities and fall in line with American foreign policy objectives. A free Papua was not in the offing, Kennedy signaled in a now declassified letter to the Dutch government. Indonesia would declare war over anything less than full incorporation of the vast territory, and Kennedy didn’t want any further destabilization in greater South East Asia than already existed in neighboring Indo China as the Viet Nam war was in its nascent stages.

Isolated internationally and not willing to go to war with Indonesia alone, the Dutch were forced to accede to the U.S. negotiated New York Agreement and became signatories with Indonesia in August of 1962. The agreement transferred responsibility for the territory to Indonesia following a brief transitional period under the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA). The plan also provided for “an ascertainment” of the will of the Papuans on their future political status to be held under UN supervision. Implementation of the plan and the handing over of Papua into co-administrative hands of the Indonesian government was made in May of 1963.

The UN’s position as overseer turned out to be one of inherent political weakness. They were powerless to prevent the sham elections of 1969- ironically known as “Act of Free Choice”- where a small cadre of some one thousand hand-picked Papuans was given the power to choose on behalf of the greater population of Papuan people between self-determination and becoming a part of the Republic of Indonesia. This in lieu of a true plebiscite- and it is reported that those Papuans who actually voted in the “Act of Free Choice” did so at Indonesian gun point. Incredulously, the electoral results were unanimous save one vote in support of incorporation into Indonesia. Even more striking was that no one in the international community- including the United Nations- filed any complaint as per this final and deciding phase of the New York Agreement.

Suharto was Indonesian president during the “Act of Free Choice” elections, and it was his administration that designed, arranged for, and supervised over them. No checks and balances were in put in place as the Indonesians were in full control. Firmly supported in the West for his anti-communist leanings, Suharto was given free license to proceed in West Papua as he so chose. The fate of West Papua was a fait de complet, and the “Act of Free Choice” just so much pro forma protocol whose outcome had been predetermined.

In the form of “Act of Free Choice,” the international community had betrayed the only opportunity Papua has yet to have in becoming an independent state. Not a single nation protested the sham elections. Nor did the UN. And to have the greatest democratic force in the world, the United States, be the determinate factor behind the betrayal fully exacerbated the treachery. Realpolitik had determined the victor and the vanquished.

(NOTE: this article is part one in a series and is to be continued)

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION AND WRITER

JOHN M. GORRINDO

Mr. John M. Gorrindo, who serves as an Indonesian correspondent for The Seoul Times, is a native-born Californian. As holder of a MA degree in music composition from the University of California, he made Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia his home after serving as a volunteer English teacher there. He also a writes fictions and composes music. Some of his writings and music can be found at Fringing reefs and Vertical Walls: http://johngorrindo.blogspot.com

Written by leejayuk

September 24, 2009 at 1:46 pm

Posted in ASIA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL NEWS, JOHN M. GORRINDO

Tagged with Betrayal of West Papua, indonesia and west papua, New York Agreement seals the fate of West Papua, realism over justice in west papua for business leaders, Suharto was given a free reign in West Papua, the tragedy of west papua, the tragic story of West Papua, UN and USA betrayed West Papua, UN destroyed its reputation over west papua

INDONESIA and Ba’asyir, the preacher of hate

Indonesia and Ba’asyir, the Preacher of Hate

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent - THE SEOUL TIMES

Abu Bakar Ba’asyir

The nation of Indonesia is blighted by Islamists who desire to destroy moderate versions of Islam because militants desire to install a new society based on dhimmitude and Islamic supremacy. Therefore, Islamic clerics like Abu Bakar Ba’asyir support the implementation of Islamic Sharia law and his attitude towards non-Muslims is one of hatred when the rhetoric flows.

Abu Bakar Ba’asyir was born in 1938 and he is a leading Islamic cleric in Indonesia and many Muslims view his opinions greatly. However, it must be stressed that Muslim opinion varies greatly in Indonesia and this applies to hardliners and moderates who support the notion of a secular state.

Yet according to Abu Bakar Ba’asyir it is essential that Indonesia is ruled by Islamic Sharia law and he openly glorifies Islamic jihad during bouts of militancy. Therefore, the government of Indonesia is in a flux about how to deal with him and over the decades he was either threatened by authorities in Indonesia or tolerated.

Abu Bakar Ba’asyir and Abdullah Sungkar opened a boarding school in 1972 in order to preach to the next generation about the need to implement Islamic Sharia law in Indonesia. In time both individuals would flee to Malaysia because the Suharto regime was in no mood to bow down to Islamists and Suharto was bent on economic modernization and authoritarian control over the whole of Indonesia.

In 1999 Abu Bakar Ba’asyir returned to Indonesia, however, both he and Abdullah Sungkar gained from their exile in Malaysia because they met leading Islamists and they both understood the need for a collective approach in order to spread Islamic rule.

Therefore, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir and Abdullah Sungkar were involved with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) which was a lose patchwork of various radical Islamic organizations. The main goal was to create a super-Islamic state which would incorporate Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore (some would also include southern Thailand and Cambodia).

The vastness of this region and the mass complexity is a wonder to behold, however, in the wrong hands it could become a nightmare. 　After all, you have a very diverse mix of ethnic and religious groups and you already have religious bouts of violence between Christians and Muslims in parts of Indonesia and the southern Philippines. More recently, tensions have erupted between Muslims and Buddhists in southern Thailand and passions often run high in Malaysia which is the most diverse nation in the region when it comes to religion.

Therefore the views of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir can’t be ignored or brushed aside so easily because JI have been involved in many terrorist attacks and have been involved in communal violence against Christians in Poso in Indonesia and other areas alongside other groups like Laskar Jihad. Also, more alarming, he often plays around with words and distances himself when needed and just like Islamic terrorist organizations like Laskar Jihad, he/they can melt away from the scene and then come back either through a new organization or a new upsurge in militancy.

Walid Phares, author of “The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy” and other books, stated “We all know that the process to become a Jihadist, is long and tenuous. It needs a Salafi-Wahabi environment to be produced. The question in Indonesia is this: Who is producing the “ideological culture” out of which Jama’ah Islamiah came from? What are the structural webs that produced Laskar Mujahidin (or Laskar e Jihad), or Laskar Jundullah or even the Sulawesi-based Mujahedeen KOMPAK?”

However, the geographical reality of the entire region follows the complexity of ethnicity and religious diversity. Added to this is rampant poverty, cronyism, mismanagement of resources, and vastly different development stages and political infrastructures. Therefore, Islamists have many angles to manipulate and spread their message and you have links between jihadists and senior officials even if these links are on the periphery or based on manipulation by national governments.

Therefore, Walid Phares sums up this complexity by stating that “…the Jihadi “Laskars” around the archipelago are projecting themselves as the “protectors” of the territorial unity of “Muslim Indonesia.” Hence their action against non-Muslims, including in Poso, the Celebes, etc is projected as “in the interest of the nation.” They are trying to emulate Hassan Turabi’s strategy in Sudan: the defense of Islam’s lands.”

Given this, JI moved easily between supporting Muslims during communal violence against Christians in Maluku and Poso in Indonesia; and then to targeting economic and Western interests throughout the region. At the same time you have inter-links between JI, al-Qaeda, MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Abu Sayyaf and other Islamic organizations.

JI have been responsible for many deadly deeds and this applies to killing 15 people in 2000 after an attack against the Jakarta Stock Exchange and killing many during Christmas Eve bombings during the same year　in Indonesia. They have also spread their terror to the Philippines with several attacks and an attack was thwarted in Singapore. The most deadly attack happened in 2002 with the Bali bombings and more recently two hotels were attacked in Jakarta in 2009.

Returning back to Abu Bakar Ba’asyir he stated in 2002 that “If non-believers have weapons capacity, the funding, then they will go to war against Islam. In the Koran Allah has said they will always wage war against you, they will always attack you as long as they have the capacity.” He further stated that “The government of Indonesia right now is being directed by America to service its needs and the primary need of America is to bury Islam particularly in Indonesia.”

He continues by stating that “…Hence our religion Islam, our nation and our country is currently being threatened by foreign races with all manner of libels, with the bombings in Bali, with explosions everywhere, all of those are the plots of non-believers whose aims are to weaken and profane the believers of Islam.”

Therefore, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir is somehow trying to claim that the Bali bombings were done by non-Muslims and this is similar to the September 11th conspiracy theory. However, this is clearly ridiculous and Osama Bin Laden and other brutal killers are proud of ordering the killings of many innocents and many Islamists have either been caught or were found dead at the carnage they inflicted on others.

These statements can be found on page 166 and 167 of Zachary Abuza’s book called Militant Islam in Southeast Asia, Crucible of Terror. Zachary Abuza also states that “Although Abu Bakar Ba’asyir was named by both Malaysia and Singapore as a prime suspect and a leader of Jemaah Islamiya network, he continued to live and preach openly until October 2002.” He also told Zachary Abuza personally that “I　am not a member of Al-Qaida, but I really respect the struggle of Osama Bin Laden, who has bravely represented the world’s Muslims in their fight against the arrogant United States of America and their allies.”

Yet what logic can be found in these words by Abu Bakar Ba’asyir? After all, Al-Qaida and the Taliban were involved in the massacres of thousands of Shia Muslims in Afghanistan. This was followed by countless numbers of terrorist attacks against Shia Muslims and other non-Sunni’s in Iraq; and of course innocent Sunni Muslims have been killed by radical Sunni Islamists.

Yet in the paranoid world of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir he blames non-Muslims for doing terrorist attacks, despite clear evidence that they were done by Islamists. Then he praises Osama Bin Laden who ordered the killings of thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims, after all, according to the theories of Osama Bin Laden then killing innocents in cold blood is justified and a religious Muslim duty.

Amazingly, some Muslims and converts to Islam are still being brainwashed and manipulated by people like Abu Bakar Ba’asyir. He and Osama Bin Laden glorify religious martyrdom but then hide either behind words and the manipulation of language, in the case of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir; or when applied to Osama Bin Laden, then he just hides but orders other people of hate to kill in the name of Islam.

Islamic radicalism is a serious threat and you have so many conflicts involving Muslims, irrespective if internal Muslim wars or against non-Muslims. Alternatively, you have so many terrorist threats and religious persecution of non-Muslims in mainly Muslim nations is a daily reality. Therefore, this issue is not only serious and of major importance but it is also a nightmare.

The reason it is a nightmare is because the current jihad is in reality the same jihad that Mohammed started in the 7th century. However, unlike the old jihad, Islamists have a free reign to propagate their war throughout all societies because of the liberal nature of many non-Muslim societies.

Therefore, religious leaders like Abu Bakar Ba’asyir are dangerous but you have many hidden leaders keeping quiet but with the same aim, however, they desire the same aim but by being more astute and obtaining Islamization by stealth.

LEE JAY WALKER

http://www.leejay13.wordpress.com

NIGERIA and Christian martyrs

Nigeria and Christian Martyrs

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent - THE SEOUL TIMES

The Boko Haram extremist group killed many Christians in northern Nigeria.

The nation of Nigeria is multi-ethnic and multi-religious and this nation also suffers because of radical Islam. In truth, Nigeria is a frontline nation in the struggle between Christianity, religious pluralism and an open society against radical Islam and dhimmitude. Therefore, Nigeria, just like Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Sudan, is a frontline nation in containing the dark forces of Islam and preventing the spread of Islamic Sharia law.

However, I will mainly focus on Nigeria and the recent Christian martyrs of this nation but I will touch on the importance of the other nations. After all, Christianity is still the most dominant religion in the world and unlike the majority of mainly Muslim nations, the vast majority of mainly Christian nations support religious freedom.

In contrast, the “heart of Islam” beats to supremacy, dhimmitude, persecution, and either religious alienation or in cases like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia; then the “heart of Islam” beats to the annihilation of all religious minorities. The differences between mainly Christian nations and mainly Muslim nations when it applies to religious freedom, is clearly a million miles apart.

After all, let us not get bogged down by major and intense debates; instead let us look at the stark reality. If a male Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, atheist, or other, had sex with a Muslim female, then this would be punishable by death in Saudi Arabia and in other conservative Muslim controlled societies. Even so-called moderate mainly Muslim nations would be in a fix and a spell in prison may suffice.

If Muslims had the same constraints in nations like America, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and a host of other nations, then you would have a huge outcry by both Muslims and liberals alike. However, such discrimination is happening, but of course it is brushed under the carpet in order to appease either Islamists, one world pipe dreamers, moral relativists who excuse everything under the sun and a host of others who desire to manipulate reality.

However, for nations on the frontline it is very different and of course Sunni Islamic bigotry and fascism is on the rise and it is essential for non-Muslims and Muslim moderates to tackle this hatred head on and not by “holding up the white flag.” Therefore, I will re-focus on the need to not only remember the Christian martyrs of Nigeria but the importance to understand why they were killed and how they stood up for religious freedom, liberty, and all the values that decent people all over the world support.

In July 2009, the sword of radical Sunni Islam was once more in action and the Boko Haram extremist group killed many Christians in northern Nigeria. Churches were set ablaze and Christians became open targets and many were told to either convert to Islam or die. This statement was given to three Christian pastors because if they converted to Islam then pastors Sabo Yukubu, Sylvester Akpan, and George Orji would be alive today.

Despite the terrible violence that was going to be enacted on them they all remained firm and choose the Christian faith over the dark forces of militant Islam which is based on the Koran, the Hadiths, and then enforced with the implementation of Sharia Islamic law. These pastors, who are real believers of God and love, gave up everything so that “the light of religious freedom, liberty, and truth” could shine during this terrible time of Islamic barbarity.

Therefore, while they were being tormented and tortured by radical Sunni Islamists these three brave individuals gave everything and put their trust in God and the Christian faith.

Even if you are not a Christian, just think of the firm conviction that they had and just look at the contrast and how people abandon friends over small issues. Yet Sabo Yukubu, Sylvester Akpan, and George Orji gave up everything in order that “hope, love, freedom, and justice” would emerge victorious and of course this was based on their Christian faith and in the knowledge of everlasting peace on The Day of Judgement.

However, look at the contrast, you just had Koranic inspired hatred and Hadiths which justify killing infidels during jihad. Of course, for the three innocent pastors and other Christians, they had never done anything wrong but in the twisted logic of radical Sunni Islam then jihad is open to anything.

Given this, while they were being beheaded the Islamists were shouting “Allah Akbar” and other Islamic statements. The pain they suffered is outside of our imagination and the Islamic torments were loud and full of joy while these Christian martyrs were entering their final seconds. Can you imagine their fear, bewilderment, and utter shock at seeing Muslims baying for their blood and celebrating like they were doing something Godly?

Yet this madness in northern Nigeria is nothing new and Christians in the north are on the frontline against the tide of Islamic hatred and dhimmitude. Yes, many Muslims will also feel aghast at such barbarity in northern Nigeria, however, for others they will deem it their Islamic duty to kill and persecute in the name of Islam.

Today Christians are on the frontline in many nations and the same applies to other religious minorities, for example Buddhists in southern Thailand face the same sword and the same applies to Hindus in Pakistan and Kashmir. Also, only recently Christians were burnt alive in Pakistan and converts from Islam to Christianity in Somalia were also beheaded.

The Muslim leader of this madness in northern Nigeria was Mohammed Yusuf, and just like Osama Bin Laden , he also ran away despite ordering Muslims to die in jihad. However, he was found cowering and scared unlike the three innocent Christian pastors who remained loyal to Christianity and religious freedom.

Shortly after Mohammed Yusuf was caught he would soon be found dead and you have various accounts of what happened. However, sadly you have many other Mohammed Yusuf’s all over the world who also desire to kill infidels in the name of Islam.

This madness will never end if appeasement is the answer or if political leaders like Obama, the President of America, make false statements about the real nature of aspects of Islam. I should also stress that “important and deadly facts about the Islamic faith are not being told.” However, Islamists are doing this carnage in the first place because of their deep knowledge of Islam and because killing apostates, forcing minorities into dhimmitude, and declaring jihad is all sanctioned by Mohammed and the Islamic faith.

Therefore, it is vital that these Nigerian Christian martyrs are never forgotten because Islamists and jihadists are also based in many Western nations and freedom and liberty must be a universal value and not limited to a pick and mix foreign policy.

More important, these three individuals, and so many others before them, gave everything because of their love of humanity. While the killers did everything because they hate religious freedom, liberty, justice, and equality. Instead, these brutal Islamic militants killed because of hatred and this darkness must be stopped firstly in frontline nations and then closer to home.

After all, this radical Sunni Islamic jihad is much closer than we think and homegrown terrorists can be found in Australia, America, Germany, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and a host of other nations.

LEE JAY WALKER

http://leejay13.wordpress.com

Written by leejayuk

September 22, 2009 at 6:25 am

Posted in AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL NEWS, RELIGIOUS ISSUES, TERRORISM

Tagged with beheading christians in the name of islam, Boko haram slaughtern many christians, christian pastors beheaded in nigeria, christians beheaded after refusing to convert to islam, islam and barbarity, islamic sharia law and barbarity, islamic sunni fanatics spread their hatred, islamic sunni militants, islamic zealots, islamization by the sword in nigeria, islamization in northern nigeria, nigeria is a frontline nation, sharia islamic law in nigeria and brutality

INDONESIA and Islamic terrorism

Indonesia and Islamic Terrorism

By Lee Jay Walker - THE SEOUL TIMES
Tokyo Correspondent

An Islamic school in Indonesia

The government of Indonesia faces many internal problems because of the geographical reality of this nation and ethnic and religious tension does engulf Indonesia from time to time. However, what is worrying is the possible collusion between radical Sunni Islamists and the security services of Indonesia. Therefore, is collusion happening in places like Sulawesi and West Papua (Irian Jaya) or is it a long-term goal of containing Christians and ethnic minorities?

If we turn the clock back to 2001 and focus on events in that year, then it is clear that either collusion was happening or events happened because it was a direct policy of the government of Indonesia?

This applies to Laskar Jihad because this brutal Sunni Islamic terrorist organization sent even more fighters to central Sulawesi in order to persecute Christians. Laskar Jihad, like other past or current Islamic terrorist organizations, is brutal, barbaric, and cowardly.

Laskar Jihad, just like other radical Sunni Islamic terrorist organizations, believe that it is their Koran-Hadith inspired duty to kill innocents and to install fear. Therefore, the region of Sulawesi was a paradise for them to cause mayhem and to create a major gulf between both communities. Given this, events spiralled out of control and inter-religious clashes erupted because these outsiders to Sulawesi desired to kill in the name of Islam.

However, much more disturbing is the role of the government of Indonesia or elements within the security services and military. After all, Laskar Jihad was given a free reign to enter the region and this radical Sunni Islamic terrorist network was not removed from this delicate region. Therefore, surely collusion was taking place, if so, then how can religious or ethnic minorities feel secure in Indonesia?

After all, it is noticeable that in Sulawesi and West Papua that Islamists and the government of Indonesia do have vested interests which overlap. Also the situation in East Timor in the past mirrored covert operations based on systematic terror and fear.

Yet East Timor belonged to the “old world” of nationalism and preserving the nation state of Indonesia. However, just like the Palestinian situation, it became clear that Islamic terrorism and militant organizations were on the rise. The secular nature of Palestinian resistance now lies in tatters because Hamas and others now have a clear Islamic agenda, therefore, Sulawesi and West Papua are seeing a “new world” whereby Islamists have an ideological motive in spreading hate and dhimmitude.

Zachary Abuza, the author of Militant Islam in Southeast Asia, Crucible of Terror, states “The government never prevented the Laskar Jihad militia from coming, nor did it try to expel them. Muslim paramilitaries were reportedly armed with machine guns (including M-16s) and rocket-propelled grenades, forcing thousands of Christians to flee.”

This raises serious issues because it appears that the government of Indonesia and various radical Islamic organizations do share a common ground. Of course, many Indonesian political leaders do not share the same theme but important elites within powerful institutions do share similar concerns, albeit from different perspectives.

Zachary Abuza comments that “First, Jafar Umar Thalib and the Laskar Jihad have considerable political support. Vice President Hamzah Haz has been a staunch defender of the organization and helped get Thalib acquitted in January 2003.” Zachary Abuza also states that “…while the military has at times had to employ force against the Laskar Jihad, the reality is that the two organizations have the same goal in preventing secessionist movements from succeeding, as happened with East Timor.”

However, the Indonesian government will clampdown when vested interests are threatened and this applies to Islamic terrorist attacks in Bali or against hotels, and other economic based attacks. Also, it appears that the government will take action against international Islamic jihadists rather than home-grown Islamists.

Once more, Zachary Abuza comments that “Until the Bali bombing, Indonesia took few constructive measures in the war on terrorism. The Singaporean, Malaysian, Philippine, and U.S. governments all expressed utter frustration with the Indonesian government, and despite many appeals, the Indonesians did not arrest any Indonesian suspects wanted abroad.”

Therefore, just like the government of Pakistan which manipulated radical Sunni Islamists to cause mayhem in Afghanistan and Kashmir; the government of Indonesia had similar vested interests when it applied to domestic issues.

However, the Pakistan government can no longer control elements within Pakistan because Islamists have been emboldened and they desire to enforce Islamic Sharia law and dhimmitude throughout the nation. Indonesia does not face this problem because the centre is much stronger but it is a dangerous game to play and it is clear that religious minorities and secularists in Indonesia are worried about this.

Also, Islamists will have ample opportunities to stir mayhem because various parts of Indonesia remain tense and another major incident could easily ignite tensions. The people of West Papua may also witness Islamization because of increasing Muslim migration and Islamic organizations which have a shared agenda with the government of Indonesia.

In an article published by Asia News in 2006 it stated that “Islamic extremist groups are entering West Papuan territory, with the consent of elements of the Indonesian army, to set up bases there.” Therefore, this part of Indonesia faces severe problems and Islamic radicals and government agencies have similar objectives. Given this, many Papuans are worried about religious persecution and state-sanctioned persecution.
Therefore, Christian areas of Indonesia face a frontal attack against them and this applies to Javanization, Islamization, direct government policies, and the threat of Islamic terrorism in sensitive parts of Indonesia is always possible.

This policy does not apply to the whole of Indonesia and it must be mentioned that this nation is very complex because Christians have much greater freedom in Indonesia than in the majority of mainly Muslim nations. Yet for Christians in sensitive areas of national interest or in areas of distinct divisions, then the situation is very different.

Despite this, it is clear that the implementation of Islamic Sharia law is a worry for all religious minorities, moderate Muslims and secularists. Therefore, radical Islamic organizations must not be given a free reign because if this happens, then the only victory will be for the dark forces of humanity and this means radical Sunni Islam and the implementation of Sharia Islamic law.

It is now vital that pressure is put on all nations which are colluding with radical Islamic terrorist organizations or with radical Islamic educational institutions because this is where the brainwashing begins. Therefore, more pressure must be put on Indonesia to clampdown against radical Islamic institutions and to stop the manipulation of these networks when it comes to secessionist problems within Indonesia.

LEE JAY WALKER

Tagged with destruction of west papau, government of indonesia and islamic terrorist links, hatred of non-Muslims in indonesia, Indonesia and Islamic terrorism, islamic terrorists are being used in sulawesi, islamic terrorists are being used in west papua, killing of christians in indonesia, Laskar Jihad, Laskar Jihad and terrorism and, Laskar Jihad is spreading its hatred, radical islam, radical sunni islam, sharia islamic law and terrorism in indonesia, sunni islam

Written by leejayuk

September 21, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Posted in ASIA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL NEWS, RELIGIOUS ISSUES, TERRORISM

ACEH in INDONESIA passes stoning to death law

Aceh in Indonesia Passes Stoning to Death Law

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent - THE SEOUL TIMES

Flag of Aceh. The Free Aceh Movement (Indonesian: Gerakan Aceh Merdeka: GAM), also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF), was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia.

The nation of Indonesia is multi-ethnic and multi-religious but just like Nigeria religious issues and tensions remain. In northern Nigeria many states in the north were allowed to introduce Sharia Islamic law, however, for Christian minorities this was a nightmare because they became threatened by the brutal reality of Islamic Sharia law. Therefore, will Aceh inspire Islamists in other parts of Indonesia in the future and what about being equal in law?

In the past you had a brutal civil war in Aceh between the Free Aceh Movement who wanted either an independent state or real autonomy within Indonesia. However, the tragic events of the tsunami in 2004 altered the internal situation and central forces and the Free Aceh Movement both compromised in order to resolve many long standing issues.

Prior to the tsunami in 2004 the civil war had been ongoing and in 2001 the government of Indonesia allowed a broader role of Islamic Sharia Law in Aceh. However, this was also followed by a fresh Indonesian military offensive in 2003-2004 but events would unfold after the tsunami and a peace deal was struck in 2005 between the Free Aceh Movement and the government of Indonesia.

The region of Aceh is diverse but the vast majority of people follow Islam and this applies to approximately 98% of the population. The other 2% of people in Aceh are Buddhist, Christian, or Hindu. However, in Indonesia the religious issue is complex because despite the majority of people being Muslim you still have sizeable minorities who follow other religions.

Christianity is the second major faith in Indonesia and accounts for 9% to 13% of the entire population. Also, in recent decades this faith is growing and thriving despite bouts of persecution. Therefore, just like in Nigeria, the role of Islamic Sharia law is serious because many minorities fear religious persecution and discrimination.

Many provinces throughout Indonesia have opted to implement aspects of Islamic Sharia law but these infringements have been limited in scope when compared to Aceh. For according to reports in recent days the region of Aceh will allow people to be stoned to death in cases of adultery and other draconian laws based on Sharia will also be implemented.

Therefore, the slippery slope is starting to gain in momentum and this bodes ill for Indonesia just like it does for northern Nigeria. After all, in northern Nigeria you have many tensions between Christians and Muslims and only recently you had more Christian martyrs beheaded by radical Islamists.

Currently in Indonesia it is clear that Christians face pressure and restrictions in Aceh, West Java and South Sulawesi and the role of Islamic Sharia law will only add to this problem. In other parts of Indonesia, for example North Sulawesi and Papua, Christians form a majority while sizeable communities can be found around Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Maluku, and other parts of Indonesia.

In Padang in West Sumatra you are seeing growing infringements on non-Muslims because all females must wear headscarves irrespective if Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or whatever faith or no faith. Also, in some parts of Indonesia radical Islamists are putting pressure on local leaders about preventing new Christian churches to be built or to close down churches.

Indonesian Islam was always very diverse because of past influences and traits of Hinduism and Buddhism can be found throughout a vast part of Indonesia. However, in modern day Indonesia it is clear that radical Islamic networks are trying to impose a more brutal and harsh version of Islam and this bodes ill for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Aceh was always different because Islam was firmly established a long time ago and conservative versions are more natural in this part of Indonesia. Yet it is like northern Nigeria, how can non-Muslims feel secure or equal under Sharia Islamic law?

If you have a legal system which is based on equality for all ethnic and religious groups then the threat of control is lifted. However, what will happen in Aceh if a Muslim converts to Christianity, Hinduism, or any other religion? Will this individual be killed like it states in the Koran and the Hadiths?

Also, in the future non-Muslim missionary work may be curtailed while Middle Eastern funding continues to spread a dark shadow over Indonesia. Even more alarming, radical Sunni Islamists will be encouraged and they will increasingly put pressure on minorities by spreading radical Islam and enforcing dhimmitude on all minorities.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and other similar organizations are determined to Islamize both moderate Islam in Indonesia and society on the whole. They propagate their version of Islam and then persecute minorities like Ahmadiyya Muslims and Christians.

Therefore, in modern day Indonesia the threat of radical Islam is real and the implementation of stoning people to death for adultery is a slippery step and one that is all too common in the history of Islamization.

After all, in Afghanistan you once had Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims, and many branches of Islam were once more moderate in this nation. Yet in time the fullness of Islam was implemented via the teachings of the Koran, the Hadiths, and the implementation of Islamic Sharia law and the consequences of this was the destruction of Buddhism and Hinduism.

Indonesia is still “a young democracy” and this nation is extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity and religion but in the past pluralism won the day. However, today this pluralism is being threatened on many fronts and the introduction of stoning people to death for adultery in Aceh could further embolden other regions to implement Sharia in full.

Given this, it is essential for all minorities to work together and alongside moderate Muslims in order to preserve a society based on secularism. The “heart” of Indonesia faces many challenges but this issue could tear this nation apart if it gets out of control.

Radical Islamists will also do their best to spread hatred and their hatred is indeed deep. Therefore, the government of Indonesia must do more to tackle this issue and appeasing Islamists is not the way forward because they want to spread the Islamic culture and to enforce a monoculture on the people of Indonesia.

LEE JAY WALKER

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Written by leejayuk

September 16, 2009 at 1:45 am

Posted in ASIA, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GLOBAL NEWS, RELIGIOUS ISSUES

Tagged with aceh and religious minorities, Aceh introduces stoning to death, christians fear islamic sharia law, hadiths support stoning to death, indonesia and the religious issue, indonesia faces religious tensions, Islamic sharia law, no to islamic sharia law, radical sunni islam

2016 Olympic Bid and Racist Governor of Tokyo

2016 Olympic Bid and Racist Governor of Tokyo

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent - THE SEOUL TIMES

Shintaro Ishihara (石原慎太郎), who was on Sept. 30, 1932, is a Japanese author, politician and the governor of Tokyo since 1999.

The Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, desires to bring the Olympics to Japan, however, if this happens then what happened to the Olympic ideal? After all, we are talking about a racist and sexist who denies the Rape of Nanking and who blames foreign nationals for crime. Therefore, if Tokyo wins the right to host the 2016 Olympics it means that the “family of nations” is in the hands of a racist and sexist leader.

Therefore, it is up to individuals and organizations to campaign against the Tokyo Olympic bid because of past statements that Ishihara made. I am not talking about mild comments; on the contrary, I am talking about blatant nationalism and sexism.

I always believed that the Olympic ideals were meant to bring people together under one banner and where males and females were respected equally. However, clearly this does not apply to the Governor of Tokyo.

In a past article I mentioned that Ishihara “desires to leave a legacy” and if Tokyo wins then Ishihara and nationalists can gloss over their extreme views. Also, it will embolden other racists and sexists to pin the blame on foreign nationals and to follow the same racist path to power.

However, the real legacy of Ishihara is being anti-Korean, anti-Chinese and anti-foreign by nature. At the same time Ishihara is clearly sexist and how strange it would be for a person who deems females to be inferior and who wants to keep Japan for the Japanese, to be given his glory day!

All nations have a negative past however we expect our major leaders to move on and try to start afresh. However, Ishihara is very dangerous because he is keeping the heart of racial hatred alive and he belittles the history of both China and Korea by making outlandish statements. Given this, it is essential that the Olympic Committee understands the real motives of this unashamed individual who mocks the memory of many people, and who wants to employ revisionism and hatred of others in order to maintain power.

In my last article about Ishihara I stated “….he is a dangerous maverick who installs anti-Korean and anti-Chinese hatred. Not only this, we are talking about a rampant sexist who made an alarming comment about the role of women in society. Ishihara also belittled Africans in another tirade and the only reason he remains so silent recently, is because the nationalist leader of Tokyo understands that he is under the international spotlight. Therefore, it is essential to enlighten people about this individual who stokes up hatred towards others via un-logical outbursts of inhumanity.”

In 1990, Ishihara mocked the memory of China and he belittled one of the worse crimes of the 20th century. Not only this, he is mocking the memory of real pain and sorrow and a crime against humanity. After all, vast numbers of people were killed and babies were slaughtered and many members of the Imperial Japanese Army raped tens of thousands of Chinese women.

Despite this, Ishihara stated in a Playboy interview that “People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true. It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie.” Also, more recently Ishihara gave his blessing to the film called The Truth about Nanjing (Nanking) and in typical nationalist style this film ignores reality and instead panders to the nationalist heart and to people who despise China.

Therefore, it is vital that the Olympic Committee understands the true nature of Ishihara. After all, behind all the smiles in Japan, just like child abduction in this nation of thousands of mixed blood children, you have a sinister motive and this is based on rampant nationalism and extremism amongst certain elites in Japan.

Therefore, would the Olympic Committee award Germany the Olympics if the local mayor stated that the holocaust was a myth? If Japan wins the vote in early October then what would this say about the Olympic dream and ideal?

After all, the Olympics should be based on harmony but Ishihara does not support harmony or sexual equality. He commented about women that “old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin.” Therefore, this person must be exposed and the same applies to the hidden nature of racism and sexism within the logic of the Governor of Tokyo.

LEE JAY WALKER