ICC Note: Despite being recognized internationally as an example of a tolerant Muslim majority Democracy, anti-religious hostility continues to plague Indonesia. Last week ICC learned that at least two churches had been forcibly shut down by local governments in recent days under pressure from radical Islamic organizations, with one of the churches located in Sulawesi being torn down by local authorities. Now Indonesian police are warning that terrorist’s may be planning bombings around the Christmas holiday, a typically dangerous time for at risk Christian groups in sensitive parts of the world. In 2000, Christmas bombings in Indonesian churches killed 16.  
12/12/2013 Indonesia (Jakarta Globe) – The chief of the National Police said on Thursday that authorities were investigating possible terrorist plots related to Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in some Indonesian cities.
“We have monitored terrorists in some regions and have followed them,” National Police chief Gen. Sutarman said as quoted by Tempo at the Halim Perdanakusuma airport. “They may be making explosives.”
Sutarman said that the police were particularly focused on Central and South Sulawesi as well as Jakarta, but declined to provide more detail on the nature of the threat, or how credible the police believed the people under surveillance to be.
“There are various targets,” he said. “Targets were foreign symbols in the past — but [terrorists] are now targeting other symbols.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked ministries and officials to increase security at Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.
“I’ve told the vice president and related ministers to secure Christmas and New Year’s celebrations,” Yudhoyono said in a press conference at Halim, adding that he had been briefed by police about the possible terrorism plots.
Police warnings of terror plots around this time of year are not new. Last year, Sutarman’s predecessor, Gen. Timur Pradopo, said police were investigating potential attacks, while the head of the National Anti-Terror Agency, Ansyaad Mbai pointed to possible plots in Central Java, Jakarta and Poso. No attacks took place over the Christmas period last year.
In 2000, a series of bomb attacks happened in some churches, claiming 16 lives and injured dozens.
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