Indonesia: Up To 75% Of Christians Forced To Flee Aceh Regency After Muslims Destroy Church

Hundreds upon hundreds of devout followers on fire for Allah went out seeking to spread the peaceful message of Islam to local Christians. Unfortunately, another church burst into flames in the process …

Qur’an Sura 9:14, 30, “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace … even if they are of the People of the Book … the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them …”

The Jakarta Post – “Thousands of people, mostly Christians, have left Aceh Singkil regency, Aceh, for neighboring regencies in North Sumatra after an Islamic group attacked a village and set fire to a church.

The attackers, grouped under the Aceh Singkil Islamic Care Youth Students Association (PPI), arrived in Suka Makmur village, Gunung Meriah district, Aceh Singkil, in several trucks on Tuesday afternoon and set alight the Huria Kristen Indonesia (HKI) Church, which they considered to be unlicensed.

Hundreds of police and military officers who had earlier been deployed to the village failed to prevent the attack as they were outnumbered. One of the attackers, identified as Samsul, was shot dead when Christians, the majority in the village, tried to defend their church.

Samsul, 21, a resident of Bulu Sema village, Suro Makmur, died from an air rifle wound, while three other attackers were injured and were taken to the regency’s general hospital for treatment.

The church was one of 10 in the regency that was protested by the Islamic group. At a recent meeting at the regency office between the protesters, the churches’ board members and local officials, it was reportedly agreed that the churches would be demolished on Oct. 19.

After the attack, about 75 percent of the villagers moved to other areas, with many houses in Suka Makmur left empty and locked up.

‘We are still afraid that an incident could occur again if [the situation is] not handled properly,’ congregation member Silaban said on Wednesday.

The police recorded that 3,433 people had moved to Central Tapanuli regency and 976 to Pakpak Bharat regency, both in North Sumatra.

Many parties have denounced the attack in Aceh, the only province in the country to implement sharia.

‘Stop violence in Aceh Singkil. Any act of violence, whatever the reasons behind it, not to mention if it is related to religion and faith, will kill diversity — Jkw,’ President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo said on Wednesday on his Twitter account @jokowi.

Jokowi has ordered Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti to take immediate action to stop violence and promote peace in the regency.

Badrodin acknowledged that the National Police had foreseen such an attack but had not readied enough security personnel on Tuesday to protect the church from the attackers, estimated to have numbered 500 to 700 people.” Read more.

Flashback: On Fire For Allah

• Indonesia: Muslims Set Fire To Protestant Church In Poso
• Muslim Mobs Burn Down 288 Churches, Kill Hundreds In Nigeria
• Again: Nigerian Islamists Destroy 185 Christian Churches For ‘Allah’
• Cameroon: Islamists Kill Christian Missionary, Burn Several Churches
• Syria: Historic Evangelical Church Of Aleppo Destroyed With Explosives
• Nigeria: More Churches Burned, More Lives Lost For The Glory Of ‘Allah’
• Tanzania: Zanzibar Islamists Riot, Burn Down Christian Churches (Again)
• Egypt: 1,000 Muslims Attack Christian Village, Burn Homes And Churches
• Egypt: Christian Schools, Churches Burnt To Erase All Traces Of Christianity
• Niger: Muslims Destroy At Least 70 Churches, Loot And Burn Dozens Of Christian Homes