Ahmad Salimin Dani, head of Bekasi Islamic Missionary Council, must know our constitution guarantees the freedom of any Indonesian citizen to worship who they wish, and that includes Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and so on. Those who claim to be Indonesians and oppose the constitution clearly oppose the Unity of Indonesia itself, and may very well be terrorists in the making. Pak SBY, beware!

Furthermore, the Koran itself contains several chapters that actually very much respect the Bible and Christians. One of them which Ahmad Salimin Dani should have read before ranting about conversions to Christianity and such, is The Spider chapter (Surat Al-Ankabut), 46, which says: “And argue not with the people of the Scripture, unless it be in a way that is better…. and say “We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you; our God and your God is One”.

Others include The Table chapter (Surat Al-Ma’idah’) 47, which states: “Let the people of the Injeel (The Bible) judge by what Allah has revealed therein” and The Women chapter (Surat An-Nisa’) 136, which states: “O you who believe! Believe in Allah, and his Messenger, and the Book which he has sent down to his Messenger, and the Scripture which he sent down to those before him ( i.e. the Taur't and the Bible), and whosoever disbelieves in Allah, his Angels, his Books, his Messengers, and the Last Day, then indeed he has strayed far away”.

Ahmad Salimin Dani’s words: “If the Muslims in the city can unite, there will be no more story about us being openly insulted by other religions.”, are just the empty ravings of a rabble-rouser who conveniently forgot that he and his ilk insulted the Christians, not the other way around.

The Bekasi Islamic Missionary Council and their supporters, including the Islam Defenders front (FPI) have indeed strayed far away from The Truth as written in the Koran.

And they will certainly reap what they have sown. Even now the devil is already gleefully anticipating all those wayward souls who’ll fall into his hands.  

Tami Koestomo
Bogor, West Java