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Indonesia frees head of Laskar Jihad
Jaffar Umar Thalib, the radical Muslim head of the paramilitary group Laskar Jihad, was acquitted by an Indonesian court today on charges of inciting Muslims to attack Christians. Judge Mansur Nasution said the prosecution didn't prove its case, though there was evidence that he told his followers "to prepare our bombs and ready our guns" two days before they killed 13 people in the Christian village of Soya.

"The real mistake was in not charging him with some of the really serious acts of violence of Laskar Jihad," Sidney Jones, director of the International Crisis Group, tells The New York Times. "Thousands of his followers were perpetrating violence against Christians from early 2000 to early 2002. We're talking about thousands of people killed by both sides in the Malukus." Reliable estimates put the death toll above 5,000.

"The verdict could give renewed vigor to Islamic radicals who have been on the defensive in Indonesia since the terrorist blast in Bali last October," the Times reports.

"The lack of resolve at this time is probably all the worse because of the situation in Iraq," Ken Conboy, head of security risk company RMA Indonesia, told Reuters. "So with his acquittal, that is probably sending all the wrong messages."

The acquittal is even more unjust than it seems. Only two days ago, two Christian leaders were sentenced to three years imprisonment merely for campaigning for an independent state in the Malukus—something they say is needed because the Indonesian government is not protecting them from attacks by Laskar Jihad.

Alex Manuputty, who was tried in absentia, told the Associated Press he would "resist the verdict in a nonviolent way." But Jafar Umar Thalib says Manuputty's sentence is unjust in a different way: "He should have been jailed for 15 years," he told the BBC. Prosecutors had requested only a one-year prison sentence for Thalib.

Meanwhile, pastor and peace activist Rinaldy Damanik, general secretary of the Protestant Church of Central Sulawesi Synod, is being held for allegedly carrying weapons even though reports say there's no evidence to support the claim. Damanik was reportedly encouraging Christians not to retaliate against Muslims at the time of his arrest.

AIDS in Africa:

• Unlikely allies influenced Bush to shift course on AIDS relief | Christian evangelicals and liberal activists joined forces (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Many surprised when Bush urged war on AIDS in Africa | Political, spiritual dynamics guided decision, some say (San Diego Union-Tribune)
  
  
• How Bush got wise to world AIDS crisis | His treasury secretary, his spiritual counsellor, his most trusted security advisers, his Republican colleagues, all urged him to make history (The Globe & Mail, Toronto)

Faith-based initiative:

• Bush's agenda walks the church-state line | President Bush's State of the Union address underscored a striking element of his presidency: the extent to which he is influenced by his Christian faith. (USA Today)
  
  
• Faith-based funding abuses the Constitution | This proposed policy change in the Department of Housing and Urban Development should not see the light of day (Editorial, The Detroit Free-Press)
  
  
• Faith-based treatment already gets federal funds | "We license faith-based organizations all the time," says Donald Eubanks, director of chemical health for Minnesota's Department of Human Services (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
  
  
• Two faith-based proposals may face legal challenge | Civil liberties groups said yesterday they are weighing legal challenges to two proposed new twists in the Bush administration's faith-based initiative: the use of vouchers to fund religion-oriented drug rehabilitation programs and the use of federal housing funds to pay for construction of buildings where worship is held  (The Washington Post)
  
  

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January (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47