Indonesia: Operation Rescue Maluku, Page 2

[ Home | Concern Index | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 ]

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not dispairing" 2 Cor. 4:8

	Surtasi survived a gunshot through the mouth.

The jihad "holy war" -
anything but holy!

One of the many Christian victims of violent attacks by the Jihad warriors in Maluku, Indonesia, told a visiting ICC team: "We Christians once lived in harmony with our Muslim neighbors. If a church needed repair, the Muslims would help us, and if a Mosque needed repair, we Christians would help them. What has been hard for me to understand is what happened to my father. The day the Jihad warriors attacked, we ran toward the jungles. My father quickly tired and was unable to run away. When the attackers caught up with him, they took his own spear from him and thrust it into him and then took his own machete and cut him to pieces. What has been hard for me to understand is this - it was my Muslim neighbor who did this to my father."

The violence that has been taking place in the Moluccas for the past two years has somehow managed to escape the attention of the media and the international community. Why is this so when the "ethnic" clashes in Timor and in Java received wide publicity in the past? Possibly the answer is because the current crisis in the Moluccas has become a "religious" war that has been perpetrated by radical Islamic groups who have clearly proclaimed their intentions to Islamize all Indonesia.

The Islamist group Laskar Jihad has made clear its intentions, having proclaimed over loud speakers its goal to exterminate all Christians in Ambon. Some would argue that there is no such conspiracy or organized movement. Those who make this claim are misinformed. Not only have the Laskar Jihad (warrior of the holy war) made their presence known, they have also posted their agenda on their web site. Furthermore, I have in my possession a CD that was produced and distributed by Jihad provocateurs among young Muslims with the clear intention to recruit them into the Jihad movement. The footage shown on this CD is targeted against the Christians on the island of Halmahera. It provides clear evidence of Laskar Jihad's ambitious efforts to organize and carry out attacks on Christians. Moreover, the footage displays hundreds of Jihad warriors marching and boarding boats, the same boats that were to deliver death and destruction to the island Halmahera.

A FAMILY OF FIVE FORCED TO CONVERT TO ISLAM

Yanis Dara and his wife Nema, along with their five small children came from the village of Gebubu, one of the villages where a number of Christians are still being held by the Jihad warriors. The family managed to escape this past January after being held hostage by the Jihad warriors for one year. "When we were attacked we fled to the jungle. We were told by the military that it was safe to return, but when we returned we were taken hostage. We were told that we must become Muslims if we wanted to survive. All of the Christians were taken into the church. We were overcome with fear and to avoid being slaughtered agreed to become circumcised and become Muslims. We still held Christ in our hearts and were willing to let them do what they wanted to our bodies. We were told that starting tomorrow we were all going to be circumcised, starting with the children. My son Unis who is only 12 could not walk for a month afterward because of the infections. There were no medicines or antiseptic and the same instruments were used repeatedly without cleansing. Unis became very ill. He still has not fully recovered."

There are still about 132 people trapped in Gebubu who are asking for our help to rescue them from the Jihad warriors. All of them were forced to be circumcised. For the adults, scissors were used to do the circumcision. Those as young as one month were circumcised. Women over 40 were not circumcised. Nema said that when she began crying for her children she was told by the soldiers to stop crying or she would be turned over to the Jihad to be killed. The circumcision on the girls was performed by inserting a coin into the vagina and then a razor blade was used to cut the clitoris. Their daughter Yesti told me, "It hurt a lot. I didn't want them to do it, but they said if I didn't let them do it they would kill me."

SERTASI: DISFIGURED FOR LIFE

Sertasi Sallom is a mother who recounted to me her story of the attack on Duma on the 19th of June 2000. As testified by refugees interviewed a few days earlier in Manado, the military had participated in the attacks against the Christians. Sertasi told us: "Because of the help the Jihad received from the military units Brawijyra 511 and Brawijyra 512, more than 400 people were slain and another 120 drowned while trying to escape in a boat. When I saw the Jihad warriors approaching, I cried out, `Lord help me.' Then a Jihad warrior came up to me and said, `I'll show you how God helps you,' and then placed a pistol in my mouth and pulled the trigger." Sertasi's disfigured face is evidence of the brutality of the Jihad warriors.

(Click here for more information on Indonesia.)

Continued on Page 3...  

POSTED:  April 12, 2001

[ Home | Concern Index | Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 ]