Christian apologist Edwin Hutabarat interviewed on Diaspora TV. (Morning Star News screenshot)
SURABAYA, Indonesia (Morning Star News) – A rash of complaints to police in Indonesia accusing Christians of blasphemy on social media has driven several of them abroad to seek refuge, sources said.
Christian apologist Edwin Hutabarat, also known as “Metatron,” is now in the Netherlands after radical Muslims from the Anti-Blasphemy Community Alliance on Nov. 7 reported him to the Cyber Unit of the Special Crime Directorate of the East Java Regional Police.
The hardline Muslims complained to police about three YouTube channels run by Edwin – Suara Sejati, Blesmigad and Sang Debaters – with one of the complainants, Basori Alwi, telling media the channels spread content insulting Islam and distorting the Quran, according to AyoJatim.com.
“In the videos from the YouTube channel, the reported party is seen deliberately distorting the meaning and interpretation of the Quran,” Basori reportedly said. “Their narrative is hurtful to Muslims because the Prophet Muhammad was accused of committing adultery with his maid, committing immoral acts and having a group with Allah.”
A Muslim also filed a blasphemy complaint to police on Edwin’s YouTube channel co-host, known as Agatha of Palermo, as she has reportedly fled to Italy. Johan Muhamad Junaedi of Indonesia Islam Apologetics Jakarta along with its satellite town regional leadership board reported her to Metro Jaya Police Headquarters in Jakarta on Nov. 1, according to Indonesia’s official news agency, Antara.
They accused her of making blasphemous comments about Islam and its prophet, Muhammad, on a livestream of her Benteng77 YouTube channel on Oct. 28.
“Agatha of Palermo said that the Prophet Muhammad was fond of having multiple women and was a human trader and afraid of water when defecating, and so on,” Johan reportedly said. “We hope there will be no more blasphemers, and it will be a deterrent. We want peace in the Republic of Indonesia.”
Other Indonesian Christian apologists have used their temporary residences abroad to operate social media. Dewi Bulan broadcasts her ideas against Islam and Muslims from her base in the United States through her TikTok Account, @WeareforMurtadin.
Abraham Ben Moses, previously known as Sjaifuddin Ibrahim, a former Muslim lecturer at an Islamic college and now a Christian pastor, was imprisoned for blasphemy from 2018 to 2022 and later again charged with blasphemy for proposing to remove 300 quranic verses that he deemed unfriendly to non-Muslims. His actions sparked outrage among hardline Muslims, leading to a call for a six-year prison sentence and a fine of 1 billion rupees.
He avoided prosecution by fleeing to the United States, as did another Christian apologist, Sofia al-Hayat, according to reports.
In Indonesia the state is usually absent when Christians are persecuted but shows up large when Muslims in the Muslim-majority country face opposition, said Pastor Nicky Jefta Wakkary of the Protestant Church in Indonesia (Gereja Protestan di Indonesia, or GPdI) in Cibinong, West Java Province.
“The state is not present when minorities are persecuted – though the intolerant take refuge in the majority – and the state is powerless in this situation [of persecution of minorities],” Pastor Nicky told Morning Star News. “From a missiological perspective, our Christian apologetics abroad have positive aspects, because the law is unfairly enforced here.”
Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said he understood why Christian apologists take refuge abroad.
“Here, in Indonesia, they cannot speak freely because they probably receive physical threats and be criminalized on blasphemous charges,” he said.
Bonar said Christian apologists feel the need to debate because fundamentalist Islamic groups have insulted Christianity as wrong teaching.
“The raging debate on social media is a reaction to the efforts of Islamic puritan groups to degrade Christianity as a ‘wrong’ teaching that has to be corrected by Islam,” Bonar told Morning Star News. “Puritan and intolerant groups do use the issue of Christianization by taking the example of the establishment of churches in many places as a threat to Islam.”
The share of Indonesia’s population that is Muslim is 83.3 percent, with 11.43 percent of citizens identifying as Christian and 3.23 percent as evangelicals, according to the Joshua Project.
Indonesian society has adopted a more conservative Islamic character, and churches involved in evangelistic outreach are at risk of being targeted by Islamic extremist groups, according to Christian support organization Open Doors.
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