Indonesia is not only popular for its scenic beauty, but lately it has also become notorious for arresting more and more people for “blasphemy”, Aleteia reported on Friday March 11. Muhammad Kacé and Jozeph Paul Zhang, two Christian Youtubers from Indonesia, have been arrested for this reason in recent months for advocating the Christian religion. The Indonesian internet is currently the scene of a war between Muslim and Christian preachers, Medium tells us. This conflict, which is not limited to mere exchanges of words, has already sentenced 72 Christians to long prison terms.
Although there has always been an anti-blasphemy law in Indonesia, it has been observed that convictions in this area have been increasing, which is evidence of the return of blasphemy as a social indicator that influences people’s way of thinking, analyses Aleteia. Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world with 264 million people, is the largest Muslim country in the world – ahead of India and Pakistan. And although the country is historically known for practising a moderate Islam, as the religion was introduced through trade relations rather than weapons, a radicalisation of Islam has been observed for a number of years. This was made possible by the arrival of successful preachers who introduced the rhetoric of Wahhabi Islam imported from the Gulf states.