FAITH IN INDONESIA

FAITH IN INDONESIA
The shape of the world a generation from now will be influenced far more by how we communicate the values of our society to others than by military or diplomatic superiority. William Fulbright, 1964

Monday, September 17, 2012

HOW INDONESIAN MUSLIMS IN NZ RESPONDED TO THE OFFENSIVE VIDEO



 Trashing trash, not critics


While protestors in Sydney were raging against an anti-Islam You Tube video clip, 60 Indonesians in the New Zealand capital were roving Wellington beaches.

Members of the local Indonesian Muslim community spent Sunday morning cleaning bays around Wellington harbor, stuffing broken bottles, torn plastic, dented beer cans, skimpy underwear and even a discarded condom into black bags.

“We are not going to protest the video,” said a surgically-gloved Ruliyati Dewi (below) who coordinated the voluntary garbage gather. “We are different kinds of Muslims who love this country.  



“We want to show that Indonesians are peaceful people who care for the environment.” Although NZ has anti-litter laws, trash is still dumped in beauty spots.

“There’s a story about the Prophet being regularly abused by the same man as he went to pray,” said Ruliyati’s husband Nino Triono (right). “He didn’t retaliate. 

“One day the abuser was absent. The Prophet inquired and found the man sick, so he visited him and prayed for his recovery.  This is an example we must follow and teach our children.”

(For a sophisticated analysis of reaction to the video read ABC broadcaster Waleed Aly's articuate commentary here: 

FOLLOW UP

This letter was published in The Wellingtonian on 20 September:


The Editor:
While Sydney was suffering from violent street protests against the grossly offensive You Tube video, in Wellington 60 Indonesian Muslims were cleaning up the bays around  Point Jerningham
 
Organiser Ruliyati Dewi told me there would be no protests because “we are different kinds of Muslims who love this country”.
 
As a Christian I congratulate my fellow expats on their fine example of tolerance and service. 

Erlinawati Graham, Crofton Downs


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