Here’s a seasonal snapshot from Indonesia’s Aceh province: on 20 December, dozens of militant Islamists rallied outside one of the largest hotels in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, threatening violence if the hotel management attempted to organise Christmas or New Year’s Eve celebrations.
The protest was to support an edict from the province’s leading Islamic cleric’s organization, the Consultative Ulama Council, prohibiting Muslims from any recognition of the Christmas season.
.... discriminatory laws have become increasingly common across Indonesia. An August 2013 update by Indonesia's official Commission on Violence against Women reported that the national and local governments have passed 342 discriminatory regulations since 1999, including 79 local bylaws requiring women to wear the hijab, backed by various sanctions.
[A COMMENT] I understand that Indonesian Islam used to be pretty mellow, befitting its tropical locale. Thank Wahhabist madrassas, imported from Saudi Arabia over the past several decades, for turning it into such an instrument of oppression. [Guardian Cif] Read more
