world

Muslim Indonesia's capital to vote in tolerance test

11 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2017 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

11 Comments
Login to comment

Religion...

8 ( +9 / -1 )

muslim needs to step into 21st century, blasphemy lol

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Purnama’s troubles began in September when he said in a speech that his rivals were tricking people into voting against him using a Koranic verse, which some interpret as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders.

Perhaps I am reading this wrong, but how could anyone interpret what Purnama said as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders? It seems to me that he was not saying that at all.

“I am here driven by my faith, because I also felt insulted when Ahok insulted my religion,” 25-year-old Mochamad Ramzie told AFP, referring to Purnama by his nickname.

Relgious intolerance is wrong. It is sad that someone like Mr. Ramzie feel another person should be put in jail for up to five years for an insult. Hopefully Mr. Ramzie is in the minority.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Blasphemy? You couldn't make it up, but in Indonesia you can. Although the country has the world's largest moslem population, political Islam has often made noises and caused commotion before but always with meager results. Should Islamists ever attempt to take power they would have to get permission from the generals who prefer, of course, to run things for themselves.Under the benevolent but beady eye of the USA the Indonesian military know that their bread is buttered on both sides only as long as they can keep the lid on the boiling pot.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

"Blasphemy? You couldn't make it up"

The religious have always been good at making things up.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

@backscratcher

Perhaps I am reading this wrong, but how could anyone interpret what Purnama said as meaning Muslims should only choose Muslim leaders?

Well, he's not actually on trial for saying this. He's on trial for blasphemy. The governor is accused of saying:

"Ladies and gentlemen, you can’t vote for me because you’re being lied to by Al Maidah verse 51 and so on".

The controversy here revolves around whether he was, as he claims, only talking about people who were lying about the meaning of the verse or whether the verse itself was doing the lying. Saying the later would constitute blasphemy.

The verse itself is Sura 5:51, you can read it and decide for yourself whether Allah thinks it's acceptable for a Muslim to vote for a Christian:

O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you - then indeed, he is [one] of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people.

https://quran.com/5/51

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I just love tolerance, we need more of it.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

To get into serious trouble for "blasphemy" nowadays is actually the problem. That's something Indonesia needs to get over. It just makes it worse to accuse this guy of blasphemy when it seems like he didn't even commit it. That's it, that's the main opposition's argument against him. They don't talk about his policies and what he's done as head of Jakarta, and people are actually buying it.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just over 50 years ago with the blessing of the USA and UK the Indonesian military staged an"anti-communist" coup and carried out one of the worst bloodbaths of the 20th century (1-3 million victims) with a little help from their "tolerant" Moslems. "Tolerance" is clearly an elastic term in the light of their recent history which is why another outbreak of "tolerance" in Indonesia remains a possibility that could one day interrupt Trump's favorite TV show. Given the complex social fabric of Indonesia complacency is never warranted.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The headline threw me on this one. For a moment a ray of light shone from heaven. A Tolerance Test, to be administered in the capital of Indonesia? There is hope for the world yet, I thought.

"Do you consider yourself tolerant or intolerant?" I imagined the question being. And I imagined the vast majority of the good citizens of Jakarta choosing the word 'tolerant'.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I do enjoy the left wing concept of "tolerance ". It's not a good word. Tolerance means some closed minded fool will hold his nose, at the, stink of your existence and allow you to exist. It isn't better than intolerance. The, world, will never move to peace until after the culture spawned by this, religion evolves into this, century where this religion accepts it is not judge and, executioner over others.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites