RLPB 551. May Update, incl. Hong Kong (China), Nigeria, Papuan Provinces (Indonesia), Turkey

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 551| Wed 27 May 2020
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

MAY 2020 UPDATE
By Elizabeth Kendal

'... have no fear of [those who persecute you], for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.' (Matthew 10:26 ESV)

MAY 2020 UPDATE - during this period we prayed concerning:

* CHINA [RLPB 548 (6 May)], where the law which deems all unregistered religious activity illegal is now being mercilessly enforced. The crackdown will force hundreds of thousands of unregistered house-churches deep underground and put numerous resistant pastors in prison. Please pray.

* CHINA [RLPB 549 (13 May)], where even registered - i.e., legal - Chinese Communist Party-approved churches are facing ever more restrictions, obligations and closures as the CCP seeks to curtail the growth of Christianity by drastically reducing both the visibility and availability of churches. Please pray.

UPDATE: HONG KONG

BACKGROUND: Article 23 of the Hong Kong's Basic Law stipulates that the Hong Kong (HK) Special Administrative Region 'shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government ...'. (emphasis mine). The HK government tried to enact such a law in 2003 but backed down in the face of massive protests. Xia Baolon is a protege of President Xi, a CCP heavyweight and the head of China's cabinet-level office that oversees HK affairs [RLPB 538 (26 Feb)]. In late April Xia met with HK Chief Executive Carrie Lam to pressure her to introduce national security legislation as stipulated by Article 23. By 21 May, Beijing had run out of patience.

Radio Free Asia (24 May 2020)

HONG KONG LOSES ITS LIBERTY

On Friday 22 May China's Premier Li Keqiang announced that the National People's Congress currently meeting in Beijing would write national security legislation into Hong Kong law, bypassing - 'and thus fatally neutering' - HK's legislative council. This, as Benedict Rogers of Hong Kong Watch notes, 'effectively ends "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong.' The decision will be passed (rubber stamped) by a vote of the Congress on Thursday 28 May. As noted in RLPB 514 (7 Aug 2019), Hong Kong - home to 850,000 Christians (12.4 percent of the population), some 1,500 churches and 35 Bible Colleges - has long been 'a vital nerve centre for [Christian] media' and 'the springboard for evangelising on the mainland'. HK's loss of freedom will be a massive blow to the Church in China. Please pray.

* INDONESIA [RLPB 550 (20 May)], as Islamic State-aligned terror groups Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and the Poso-based Mujahidin Indonesia Timur (MIT) escalate their terrorist rhetoric and activity. The escalation is a direct response to Islamic State incitement. Having labelled the COVID-19 pandemic Allah's vengeance on Islam's enemies, IS is inciting its followers to exploit the crisis to launch terror attacks on 'infidels' (Christians) and 'apostates' (Muslims who depart from 'true [IS-approved] Islam'). Please continue to pray.

MAY 2020 ROUND-UP - also this month:

* NIGERIA: SECURITY FALLS APART

click on image
to enlarge.

Violent attacks on Christian individuals and communities continue apace, without respite. While there are more than can be listed, I will mention just one. At around midnight on 11 May, Fulani Muslim militants raided the predominantly Baptist community of Gona Rogo Village, Kajuru Local Government Area, southern Kaduna State. They broke into the home of Jonathan Yakubu (36), killing him, his wife Sheba and three of his seven children: daughters Patience (15), Revelation (9) and Rejoice (6). Jonathan's other wife, along with children Isaiah (13), Ziporah (10) and two infants, survived with machete cuts and bullet wounds. (Source: Peace & Social Justice research team, Silent Slaughter Campaign.) In total, 17 Christians were killed in the midnight attack on Gona Rogo; homes were burned and cattle stolen. This is terrorism in pursuit of ethnic-religious cleansing. For more on Nigeria, visit https://silentslaughternigeria.com and check the incident tracker and https://morningstarnews.org (Sub-Saharan Africa/Nigeria). Please pray.

* PAPUAN PROVINCES (INDONESIA): RISK OF MORE VIOLENCE

On Friday afternoon 22 May two health workers affiliated with the local COVID-19 task force were shot as they travelled through the remote and mountainous Wandai district in Papua's Central Highlands' Intan Jaya Regency. While Amalek Bagau (30) survived and has been hospitalised in a critical condition, Eniko Somou (39) died from his wounds. The Indonesian military (TNI) immediately blamed Papuan separatist militants (OPM) and launched a manhunt. However, the OPM denies responsibility and insists the two men were shot by TNI and National Police personnel. The shooting comes just five weeks after TNI soldiers allegedly shot dead two young Papuan men in Mimika Regency. Eden Armando Bebari (19) and Ronny Wandik (21) were shot dead while out fishing, having apparently been mistaken for members of an armed separatist group. For the sake of Papua's imperilled Church, please pray that violence will not escalate; please pray that the mostly Javanese Muslim Indonesian military will be withdrawn from the mostly Melanesian Christian Papuan Provinces.

* TURKEY: ERDOGAN STOKES THE FIRE OF ISLAMIC ZEAL

Spouting inflammatory Islamic triumphalist rhetoric, Turkey's President Erdoğan is, once again, stoking the fire of Islamic zeal. During a coronavirus briefing on 4 May, Erdoğan insisted: 'We do not allow terrorist leftovers of the sword in our country to attempt to carry out [terrorist] activities. Their number has decreased a lot but they still exist.' Turkish journalist, Uzay Bulut explains: 'Leftover of the sword' is a commonly used insult in Turkey that often refers to Christians who survived the Ottoman Empire's 1915 genocide of Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians. In a national address on 12 May, President Erdoğan vowed to continue the fight against terrorism and foreign enemies, including the 'Armenian and Greek lobbies' which he labelled 'evil forces' targeting Turkey. This is dangerous rhetoric, rooted in racial-religious hatred and bordering on incitement. Please pray.

In early May, Turkey's Religious and Foundation Employees' Union (Diyanet Bir-Sen) publicly called for the first Friday prayer after the coronavirus pandemic to be performed in Istanbul's world heritage listed Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom, built by the Emperor Justinian in AD 537. On 10 May President Erdoğan's communication chief, Fahrettin Altun, published a tweet implying that Turkey's Muslims would soon have what they long for: Hagia Sophia  as a functioning mosque (it is currently a museum). On 15 May Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate announced that mosques will re-open on 12 June. Three days later, on 18 May, President Erdoğan announced that mosques meeting certain conditions would partly reopen to worship with Friday prayer on 29 May: i.e., on Conquest Day, the day Muslim Turks celebrate the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, which fell to Ottoman Muslim forces on 29 May 1453. The conversion of Hagia Sophia would indicate that the days of Kemalist secularism are over and that Ottoman Islam is back!

Uploaded to YouTube on 23 March 2020
source: MEMRI (23 March)

President Erdoğan routinely stokes Islamic zeal during Ramadan, before elections and in the lead-up to Conquest Day. This year his efforts have acquired a new level of urgency as he seeks out ways to perpetuate his popularity and consolidate his position amidst the economic crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation is deeply concerning. Please pray for the Church in Turkey.


But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favour as with a shield. (Psalm 5:11-12 ESV)

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

RLPB 550. Indonesia: Terror Threat Rising (esp. for Java, Poso and Chinese community)

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 550 | Wed 20 May 2020
RLPB is published weekly to facilitate strategic intercessory prayer.

Please forward this prayer bulletin widely and encourage others to sign up to the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin blog. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16 NIV)

INDONESIA: TERROR THREAT RISING
- particularly for Java, Poso (in Central Sulawesi) and Indonesia's Chinese community
By Elizabeth Kendal

Unlike al-Qaeda - which peddles a narrative of victimhood - Islamic State peddles a positive and apocalyptic narrative: the End Times are upon us so reach out and grasp the success that Allah has promised! Through its weekly newsletter, Al-Naba (The Dispatch), Islamic State (IS) has been exhorting its supporters to see the COVID-19 as Allah's vengeance on Islam's enemies, in particular China (which persecutes Uyghur Muslims), Shi'ite Iran, the 'crusader' West and Russia. Consequently, IS is exhorting its fighters to exploit this opportunity Allah has afforded them and attack infidels and apostates in their moment of crisis. Despite being decimated and in disarray, IS-affiliated (or even just inspired) jihadists have responded to the call and escalated their terrorism, primarily in Iraq where the group was born and is resurgent.

In Indonesia, IS-aligned jihadist groups - Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and Mujahidin Indonesia Timur (MIT) - have escalated their terrorist rhetoric and activity. It is true that these groups are small; indeed, one researcher recently described Central Sulawesi's Poso-based MIT as 'a small but stubbornly resistant group of ragtag terrorists ... hiding out in the hills'. It is also true that Indonesia's counter-terrorism force, Densus 88, has been very effective in keeping these groups contained. However, even one 'ragtag terrorist' can do incredible damage if he manages to slip through the net. On Sunday 13 May 2018 one family belonging to JAD bombed three churches in Surabaya, East Java, killing 13 and wounding 43.

MIT leader Ali Kalora, Poso, April 2020

On 8 April 2020, Poso-based MIT jihadists abducted Daeng Topo from his farm in Central Sulawesi. They later released an IS-inspired video in which Topo was condemned as a police informant and beheaded. On 15 April two MIT jihadists - one bearing a decrepit firearm - attacked a police officer outside a bank in Poso attempting to seize his service weapon. A scuffle ensued and the police officer was shot in the chest (non-fatally), after which police chased down and killed the two jihadists (one of whom had supposedly been 'de-radicalised' in an Indonesian prison). On 19 April MIT released another IS-inspired video, in which local farmer Ambo Ajeng, known affectionately as Papa Angga, was accused of being a police informant and shot through the head at point blank range. The funeral for the two MIT jihadists killed on 15 April was live-streamed on Facebook. Researchers at Melbourne University report that the footage reveals 'a surprisingly deep reservoir of local support for MIT'. Hundreds of MIT supporters, young and old, lined the streets, chanting IS slogans, waving black IS flags and saluting the dead MIT jihadists as heroes. The footage has reportedly 'energised' IS supporters across the archipelago. Around 20 percent of Central Sulawesi residents are Christian; most are Protestant and live in the Poso Regency, which is around 56 percent Christian.

Bigger and more sophisticated than MIT, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) is an Indonesia-wide network of some two dozen Indonesian militant groups that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State. On 13 April 2020 anti-terror forces raided a house in Muna, an island in south-east Sulawesi, where five JAD terrorists were holed up. One attacked the officers and was shot dead; the remaining four, who hailed from Central Java and South Sulawesi, were arrested. Police confiscated bladed weapons, long-range firearms and bomb-making equipment. On 26 and 27 April counter-terrorism raids targeted JAD cells at each end of Java. Three JAD suspects were arrested in the raid in Sidoarjo, a suburb of Surabaya, East Java. Three more JAD suspects - one of whom is a former air force serviceman - were arrested in the raid in Serang, the capital of Banten Province, west of Jakarta. Police also netted 2,300 rounds of ammunition (of the type used in assault rifles and in the service weapons used by the Indonesian military and police), along with a camouflaged sniper rifle (of the sort used by Kostrad [Army Strategic Command]) and several automatic pistols. It is reportedly 'the most Indonesian militants are known to have had in their possession in almost two decades'.

Rooted as it is in IS's COVID-19 narrative, JAD's rhetoric is profoundly anti-China. The risk is that this could translate into attacks on Chinese-owned businesses and Indonesia's Chinese community, more than 40 percent of whom are Christian.


PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR ALMIGHTY GOD WILL

* intervene to sever the supply lines that enable fighters and weapons to flow between Indonesia and the southern Philippines; may any 'leakage' of weapons from Indonesia's security forces also be stopped. 'Break the arm [the mechanism of action] of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.' (Psalm 10:15 ESV)

* facilitate the capture of Poso-based MIT terrorist leader Ali Kalora, along with anyone who is plotting evil against Indonesian civilians and particularly against the Lord's people.

* protect Indonesia's churches, Christians and Chinese community from Islamic State-inspired terrorism as Indonesia struggles to contain the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

* comfort and encourage the Church in Central Sulawesi, where memories of brutal Islamic jihad are still raw; may the church's message of peace and fellowship be embraced widely. 'Blessed are the peacemakers ...' (Matthew 5:9).


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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TERROR THREAT RISING IN INDONESIA

With Islamic State (IS) urging its followers to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to attack infidels and apostates, Indonesia's IS-aligned jihadists have escalated their terrorist rhetoric and activity. While these groups are small and Indonesian forces have been very effective in containing them, only one bomber needs to slip through the net to cause horrendous damage. Over the last month, Indonesian counter-terrorism forces have made numerous arrests and confiscated large quantities of weapons and ammunition from IS-aligned jihadist cells plotting terror. The threat level is raised, especially in Java - from Banten in the west to Surabaya in the east - as well as in Central Sulawesi, specifically in and around the majority Christian Poso Regency. The threat level is especially high for Indonesia's Chinese community, which is some 40 percent Christian. Please pray.

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RAMADAN: 24 April - Saturday 23 May (Eid al-Fitr)
RLPB recommends: 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World
https://www.30daysprayer.com/
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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com