There is a similar ripple of concern among many of the estimated 200 Jews living in Indonesia.
Indonesian Rabbi Yaakov Baruch speaking to a member of the Jewish community at a synagogue in Tondano, North Sulawesi.
Manado on Sulawesi island is one of the few places that Indonesia’s remaining Jews – mostly descendants of traders from Europe and Iraq who were once thought to number around several thousand before World War II – feel comfortable showing their faith. Indonesia has long been praised for its moderate brand of Islam, but more conservative forms of the religion have taken centre stage in recent years, driven by increasingly vocal hardline groups.
A wave of deadly suicide bombings at churches in Surabaya last year highlighted the threat to minority groups, while Shiites and Ahmadis – regarded as heretics by some majority Sunni Muslims – have also been the target of violence.Monique Rijkers’ efforts to bridge the divide with a TV programme about Judaism drew the ire of the Indonesian Muslim Students Association, which she claims reported her to government and broadcast regulators.
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