This actually happened four days ago, I saw it as a Yahoo headline the day it happened. However, with the recent interest in brother Ferdie Flores and persecution I decided to post this story as a reminder of the persecution that goes on everyday and is often unreported in our media. The Yahoo (AP) version of the story was somewhat “tamed down” for political correctness, but I found this report which seems to be slightly more detailed:

Poso (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Three Christian girl students were beheaded this morning. The victims are Yusriani Sampoe aged 15 years, Theresia Morangke aged 16 and Alvita Polio aged 19. Another girl, Noviana Malewa, suffered serious facial injuries; she was admitted to hospital where she is being kept under strict surveillance. The girl will be an important witness to clarify the nature of the attack, perpetrated with sharp instruments as the girls walked to a private Christian school in Poso, central Sulawesi. The bodies were discovered at 7.30 local time (8.30 in Jakarta) near Bambu village. The head of one of the girls was left outside a Christian church in Kasiguncu village and another two near a police station around 10km away from the scene of the crime.

The state news agency Antara reported that the girls were attacked by unknown assailants as they covered the 9km distance between the school and their homes, dressed in uniform. Commissioner Oenggoeseno, head of the Sulawesi police, said the motive for the crime was not important given that the victims were completely helpless girls.

As soon as news of the attack reached President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he cancelled all his appointments and called an urgent meeting with his security officials, including his vice-President, Jusuf Kalla, and heads of the army, police and intelligence. The president expressed his pressing concern about the tragedy: “I forcefully condemn these attacks against civilization and I call on the local people to collaborate with the government to guarantee a successful outcome of the investigations and to maintain security”. He said police forces will be sent to maintain security and to prevent escalation of tensions. The attack has already served to increase tensions between Muslims and Christians. Poso is fertile terrain to trigger discord between the two communities; the latest incident highlights just how serious the situation is, given that the murders came only a few days before the Muslim festival of Idul Fitri (to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan), popularly known as “Lebaran”. The long-drawn out conflict in Ambon, which has claimed thousands of victims, was ignited by clashes which broke out just a few days before Idul Fitri.

International Christian Concern (www.persecution.org) added this to their report:

We would ask all concerned individuals to contact the Indonesian embassy to politely ask for the protection of Christians in Poso as well as to end the pattern of Church closings in West Java, Indonesia.

Embassy of Indonesia, Washington DC
Ambassador: Duta Besar
Minister: Andri Hadi
2020 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20036
202-775-5200

Here are some links to learn more about the persecuted church around the world:

http://sb.od.org/
http://www.persecution.org/newsite/news.php (probably the most comprehensive news source)
http://www.persecution.com/basic/prisonerList.cfm
http://www.persecutedchurch.org/

At PrayWay we encourage prayer for the persecuted church in the “Pray for the Nations” forum, and there is a copy of the Open Doors International report.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2005 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Prayer, Christianity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.