JAKARTA (UCAN): In response to the deadly mosque attacks that took place on March 15 in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 50 people died, Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta, Indonesia, issued a statement on March 18 condemning the “savage acts which are against the values of any religious teachings and of universal humanity.”
 

JAKARTA (UCAN): Clerics from Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation, have issued a call to Muslims to stop branding non-Muslims kafir—infidels. Their call came at the end of an annual three-day meeting in Banjar, West Java, on March 1.
 
The term infidel, discriminates against people of other religions, and is not in accordance with the Indonesian Constitution that recognises each citizen’s equal status and rights, the meeting was told.
 

JAKARTA (UCAN): Politicians and Church activists in Indonesia have demanded justice after an 18-year-old mentally disadvantaged girl was allegedly treated as a sex slave by her father and two brothers. Reports of the crime shocked the nation.
 

JAKARTA (UCAN): Fourteen Indonesian orphans with HIV—seven girls and seven boys aged between seven and 10-years-old—were expelled last week from a state-run school in Surakarta, in Central Java province in early February.
 
The expulsions were the result of a backlash from parents, who discovered the children were HIV positive during a parents-teacher meeting in January, the Jakarta Post reported.
 
The parents allegedly threatened to remove their children from the school if the orphans were not expelled.

JAKARTA (UCAN): “We do need more detailed and explicit rules because when we report cases of sexual violence, police are often confused as to what legal redress they can use against perpetrators,” Sister Maria Yosephina Pahlawati of the Congregation of Servants of the Holy Spirit,  said, commenting on a groundbreaking sexual violence bill before Indonesia’s legislature.
 

JAKARTA (UCAN): Aid is being rushed to victims of floods and landslides in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province that have killed dozens of people and displaced thousands over the third week of January.
 
At least 68 people were reported dead and 6,700 others were made homeless, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesperson of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said on January 27.
 

Jakarta (UCAN): Police in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, have arrested three officials of the local Religious Affairs Ministry for allegedly demanding kickbacks from funds to repair 58 mosques damaged during powerful earthquakes that hit the province in July and August last year.
 
The quakes killed at least 563 people and damaged thousands of buildings, including 630 mosques.
 
The three suspects allegedly demanded 20 per cent of US$426,000 ($3.3 million) set aside to fund the repair of 58 mosques.
 

Jakarta (UCAN): Police in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, have arrested three officials of the local Religious Affairs Ministry for allegedly demanding kickbacks from funds to repair 58 mosques damaged during powerful earthquakes that hit the province in July and August last year.
 
The quakes killed at least 563 people and damaged thousands of buildings, including 630 mosques.
 
The three suspects allegedly demanded 20 per cent of US$426,000 ($3.3 million) set aside to fund the repair of 58 mosques.
 

JAKARTA (UCAN): “This move is being seen by the public as political will, instead of goodwill. Why has this (pardon) been given directly ahead of the presidential election?” asked Al Chaidar, a terrorism expert from Malikussaleh University, Aceh province, reacting to news of the impending release of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, the terror network leader behind the 2002 Bali bombings on compassionate grounds.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Authorities in Indonesia have raised the danger level for Mount Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait, following a devastating tsunami on December 22, which swept over the west coast of Java island and the south coast of Sumatra. 
 
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement on December 26 that 430 people are dead, 1,495 injured, 159 are missing and an estimated 22,000 displaced.