September 29, 2006:
Islamic radicals have closed or destroyed over 40 Christian churches in the last two years. Moslems who have converted to Christianity are increasingly receiving death threats, or being physically attacked. Islamic radicals have been trying to get laws passed to make Islamic law mandatory, and have used mob violence, or threats of it, to coerce people into acting according to Islamic law. The government is reluctant to crack down on this, even though only about 30 percent of the population backs it, because the Islamic radicals are quick to violence.
September 28, 2006: A police general received a jail sentence for corruption. The general had taken a $27,000 bribe while investigating a corruption case. It's rare that an officer this senior would get arrested, much less prosecuted. However, this trial was mainly for show, as there have been few others, at least not in proportion to the amount of government corruption there is. A senior diplomat was also jailed, for overcharging people for immigration documents. This is a common form of corruption, and prosecuting a few of those bureaucrats who do it is supposed to discourage others.
September 27, 2006: In East Timor, gangs of young men, armed with knives and clubs, continue to terrorize civilians, including the thousands still in refugee camps. While some of the East Timor police have gone back to work, it's still the foreign police and peacekeepers that must go after the gangs and make the arrests.
September 22, 2006: Christians rioted in Sulawesi, to protest the execution of three Christians, yesterday, for participating in violence, that had led to the killing Moslem terrorists, in the late 1990s. Islamic terrorists had earlier come of the Muluccas and Sulawesi, and led attacks on Christians, which killed thousands. None of the Islamic radicals received a death sentence, but Christians who defended themselves, did, and Christians were not happy about this. Christians felt that Islamic terrorist threats against the judges led to the death sentences.
