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Religious Extremists Force Indonesian Authorities To Cancel ‘Envoy Of The Devil’s Child’ Lady Gaga Concert In Jakarta

By Ben Armbruster on May 15, 2012 at 10:20 am

Authorities in Indonesia have cancelled a permit for pop star Lady Gaga to perform a June 3 sold-out show at a 52,000 seat stadium in Jakarta. The Associated Press reports that Islamic hard-liners and conservative lawmakers there “said her sexy clothes and dance moves will corrupt the youth” and that “the suggestive nature of her show threatened to undermine the country’s moral fiber.” Some even threatened physical force to prevent her from getting off the plane.

Reuters quoted a leader from one of the Islamic groups protesting Lady Gaga’s concert:

“She’s a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings and she stated she is the envoy of the devil’s child and that she will spread satanic teaching,” said Salim Alatas, the Jakarta head of hardline Islamic Defender Front (FPI). “This is dangerous.”

Police denied Lady Gaga’s permit out of concern that they could not guarantee her safety.

Indonesia, a nation of 240 million and has more Muslims than any other country, is secular and, as the AP notes, “has a long history of religious tolerance” but “a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.”

Indeed, last week, religious extremists tried to disrupt a book tour by Canadian author and NYU professor Irshad Manji. Groups like the Indonesian Mujahidin Council and the FPI demonstrated and threatened violence against Manji and her associates. “Things got so serious that organizers had to pull me to another floor as cops blocked the elevators,” Manji wrote on Facebook. The National Post in Canada reported that “the FPI accused Ms. Manji of conspiring to spread homosexuality among Indonesian Muslims.”

“Four years ago, I came to Indonesia and experienced a nation of tolerance, openness and pluralism,” Manji said. “Things have changed.”

Also last week, rights group Pro-Democracy People reported that officials sealed off 17 Christian houses of worship after protests from the FPI and other groups. “This is a dark time in the history of religious freedom and tolerance in [the Indonesian province of] Aceh,” said the group’s spokesperson.

Human Rights Watch today called on United Nations member states to “urge Indonesia to adopt specific measures to ensure religious freedom, free expression, and accountability for abuses.” Elaine Pearson, HRW’s deputy Asia director, said “[c]ountries should be asking Indonesia hard questions about why over the past four years violence and discrimination against religious minorities is getting worse, and why Indonesia continues to imprison peaceful activists.”

NEWS FLASH

Obama’s Transgender Nanny Lives In Fear In Indonesia | The transgender woman who once served as President Obama’s nanny now hides her identity in lives in fear of persecution in Indonesia, the AP is reporting. Though Evie identifies as a woman, she presents herself as a man because she is afraid she’ll be murdered for being transgender like one of her friends was. Her father beat her for being a “sissy” as a child, she has spent time as a sex worker to make the money she needed to survive, and she still faces a constant threat of violence in a very transphobic country. Read the AP’s full profile of her tragic story.

Climate Progress

Top Eight Climate Disasters During The Durban Climate Talks

By Brad Johnson on Dec 9, 2011 at 2:05 pm

During the two weeks of the international climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, millions of people have been affected by extreme weather disasters. Our poisoned climate is fueling more extreme and dangerous weather, as the super-heated atmosphere brings heavier rains, harder droughts, and fiercer storms. These eight climate disasters that took place while the world’s governments debate whether to address climate pollution have killed dozens of people, displaced tens of thousands of people, and disrupted the lives of millions, and yet are far from the most damaging of 2011:

8. Canada Weather Bomb

On December 8: Hurricane-force winds in a fast-moving “weather bomb” system, including 92 mph gusts, knocked out power for 68,000 people in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Heavy snowfall blanketed north New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, forcing schools to close.

7. Scotland Weather Bomb

December 8: Severe winds of up to 165 mph from another weather bomb battered Scotland and northern England, forcing hundreds of schools to close, destroying a giant wind turbine, and leaving more than 56,000 people without power. “The storm’s winds were so strong as its pressure dropped by 44mb, almost double the qualifying amount for a weather bomb, in the 24 hours to 6am this morning. The winds today were stronger than the 80mph gusts seen when Hurricane Katia hit in September.”

6. Los Angeles Santa Ana Windstorm

November 30: A powerful, late-season Santa Ana windstorm with gale-force gusts “left much of the Los Angeles area strewn with toppled trees and downed power lines on Thursday, slowing rush-hour traffic,” canceling hundreds of flights, and knocking out electricity to over 430,000 residents. “Public schools in Pasadena and 11 other districts in San Gabriel Valley, northeast of Los Angeles, were closed for the day.” Thousands are still without power.

Read more

NEWS FLASH

Indonesian Women: ‘Don’t Tell Us How To Dress, Tell Them Not To Rape’ | After a politician in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, said women should dress more modestly to avoid rape, women dressed in miniskirts took to the streets and protested for more protection for women and better aid for sexual assault victims. The women carried signs that said: “Don’t tell us how to dress, tell them not to rape,” and “My body is not porn, instead it’s your dirty mind.” Indonesia’s National Commission for Women’s Affairs said there have been more than 100,000 cases this year in Indonesia of violence directed at women.

By Ali Gharib on Sep 19, 2011 at 11:35 am

Climate Progress

Hours Eleven To Fifteen Of Climate Reality: Asia

By Brad Johnson on Sep 15, 2011 at 5:55 am

The Climate Reality Project’s 24 Hours of Reality travels through the capital cities of the vast Asian continent, with billions of people, including the emerging superpowers of China and India. The presentations start in Seoul, and go to Beijing, Jakarta, New Delhi, and Islamabad. Each nation faces unique challenges from the climate crisis, and is devising innovative and hopeful responses:

SOUTH KOREA: Deadly floods are striking the Korean peninsula with increasing fury, devastating not only South Korea but its impoverished and isolated neighbor, North Korea. South Korea’s government is making a massive investment in renewable energy.

CHINA: China is undergoing an almost unimaginable degree of economic transformation while epic floods and droughts brought on by global warming add to the pressures on the most populous nation on earth. China is home to both extreme pollution and is also becoming a world leader in renewable technology, with investments in clean R&D that far outstrip the United States. The government is racheting up restrictions on carbon pollution while trying to maintain rapid economic growth, an exciting and dangerous balance.

INDONESIA: Home to vast rain forests and underwater forests of coral that are being destroyed at a frightening rate, Indonesia is acutely vulnerable to sea level rise, with most of its population at or below sea level. Efforts to save its forests are key to keeping the rise in global carbon pollution in check.

INDIA: The vast subcontinent of India is fighting unprecedented droughts, floods, and heat waves. The Himalayan glaciers that water the nation are receding, even as sea level rise and unpredictable monsoons are engulfing lowlands. The government of India has set ambitious renewable energy targets and commitments to carbon pollution reductions as it struggles to ensure its poor do not starve.

PAKISTAN: For the third year in a row, Pakistan is facing devastating floods, though 2010 remains the most extreme. The fragile nuclear nation is struggling to rebuild from the extraordinary flooding of last year.

Watch it (6 am-11 am EDT):

Related Posts

Yglesias

Indonesia Ready to Sign Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty When We Are

By Matthew Yglesias on Jun 9, 2009 at 10:44 am

Hasan Wirajuda [DOD photo]

Hasan Wirajuda (DOD photo)

Right now there are nine countries who would need to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty for it to go into effect, Indonesia, the United States, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, and North Korea. Yesterday, during an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirajuda said Indonesia is prepared to sign the CTBT if the United States is. Obviously, some of those other countries are going to be tough gets. Nevertheless, any forward motion to this goal is welcome, and I think this underscores the importance of the United States showing leadership on this topic.

For some info on the general topic of the CTBT, I would recommend this and this from the Arms Control Association, and this from the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

The larger issue, however, is the context of Barack Obama’s pledge to commit the United States to work toward the eventual global abolition of nuclear weapons. That’s an important goal, and I think it actually is an achievable one, but it’s clearly not a goal that’s achievable in the short term. So the idea has to be to combine clear articulation of the goal with solid commitment to incremental steps that the non-nuclear weapons states of the world can see as gestures of our good faith. Working toward serious bilateral arsenal reductions with Russia is one important piece of this puzzle, and the CTBT is probably the other most important piece. After all, if we seriously intend to be moving beyond nuclear weapons then clearly moving beyond nuclear weapons tests is going to be an important intermediary phase.

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