Chinese god stokes tension in Indonesia
Indonesia has urged officials to stand up to mob pressure after Muslim and nationalist protesters called for a 30-metre statue of a Chinese deity erected in a temple complex in an East Java town to be torn down.
The brightly-painted statue of Guan Yu, a former general who is worshipped by some Chinese, was inaugurated in July in a temple complex in the fishing town of Tuban and is claimed to be Southeast Asia’s tallest such representation of the deity.
The statue in Tuban, about 100 km west of the city of Surabaya, has been partially covered up after the protests, provoking both praise and ridicule on social media in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.
“If they ask for the statue to be torn down, authorities cannot bow to such pressure,” Teten Masduki, chief of staff to President Joko Widodo, told reporters.
Protesters demonstrated this week outside Surabaya’s Parliament against the statue, some wearing paramilitary-style outfits and waving placards that read “Demolish It” and “We are not worshippers of idols”.
Allowing a depiction of a foreign general was “a symbol of treason to this nation,” an unnamed protester said.
Officials of the Kwan Sing Bio Temple in Tuban declined to comment, but media have quoted residents as saying the statue was good for tourism.
Indonesia is a secular state whose constitution enshrines religious freedom and diversity, but there are concerns that intolerance threatens its reputation for moderate Islam. REUTERS