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Have we let them down?

Persecution in the Moluccas

Over 700 Christians were being held in mosques in late December on the Moluccan island of Keswui in Indonesia and were being forced to either convert to Islam or face execution. Some 93 Christians have already been killed and hundreds forced to convert. At least 20 were forcibly circumcised as a sign of their 'conversion'.

In another recent incident of mass forced conversion over 1,150 Christian men and boys from the town of Bacan were forcibly circumcised and a minister tortured and killed. Elsewhere in the Moluccas Islands over 5,000 Christians have been forced to convert to Islam and many Christian women made to marry Muslim men, thus forcing their conversion in the eyes of their Islamic extremist tormentors.

Dressed in traditional Islamic clothes and cap, the Christians of Keswui endured a conversion ceremony in a mosque while Islamic warriors stood guard. One said: 'We agreed because we were concerned for the safety of our children'.

The horrific violence began on November 28 when four Christian villages came under attack from Islamic extremists.

The militants promised to 'Turn off the candles in December' and that no church bells would ring in Ambon at Christmas. The candle is the symbol of Ambon.

Voice at Westminster

Grave concerns about the systematic extermination of the Christian community in the Moluccas and the forced conversions to Islam were raised in Parliament in the run-up to Christmas. During a one-hour debate Edward Leigh MP called on the British Government to put strong pressure on the Indonesian authorities to stop persecution of the Christian community in the Moluccas. He also called for an arms embargo to be imposed on Indonesia until peace is restored in the Islands. Win Griffiths MP stressed that it was not enough to send Indonesian troops to deal with violence in the Moluccas unless they were willing to act neutrally and not aid the cause of the Islamic militants.

John Battle MP, a minister at the Foreign Office, responded on behalf of the Government, saying that they recognised the role of Laskar Jihad in the violence, but he claimed that the Indonesian military were not as ineffective as had been argued and that 250 Islamic militants had been arrested earlier in the year. He said that the British Government continued to put regular pressure on the Indonesian Government, but would not commit himself on imposing an arms embargo or whether to put pressure on the Indonesian authorities to accept UN peace-keepers.

According to the Jubilee Campaign, there are around 7,000 Islamic militants in the Moluccas engaged in a so-called holy war against Christians.

Wilfred Wong, Jubilee campaign spokesman said: 'The Government should be putting pressure on the Indonesian Government to accept UN peace keepers in the Moluccas, since their military has frequently failed to protect the Christians and on many occasions actually took part in the attacks on them. Unfortunately the Government has been very reluctant to do this and have also failed to strongly raise the issue of the mass forced conversions with the Indonesian authorities.'

More information on 020 7219 5129.