Indonesian Jews Suffer for Israel’s Actions

I came across this story about two Jewish brothers who had lived in Surabaya all their lives and now feel compelled to seek refuge in Israel.  They left Surabaya in October 2009 after receiving death threats.  From the story, it seems that the people making the threats agreed not to destroy the synagogue as long as these two brothers left the country.  A small Jewish community remains in Surabaya, consisting mostly of people who have married outside the Jewish faith and those who are too poor to leave.

The puzzle is: why should these two elderly men be the focus of such rage as to drive them out of the country?  They seem harmless enough to me.  People with arabic looks are considered beautiful by most Indonesians.  Perhaps they wear their skullcaps in public?  If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Unfortunately, the location of their synagogue is well known to the public and so it is a focus of attention whenever people want to vent their anger at the latest alleged injustice perpetrated by the Israeli state.  The fact that the Jewish community which belongs to this synagogue are perfectly innocent does not enter the thinking of the fanatics who want them gone.

Surabaya Synagogue

Since the brothers left, further protests against Israel’s Gaza offensive in January 2010 have caused the synagogue to be closed down completely.

Many people are surprised to learn that there are any Jews living in Indonesia at all.  In fact, the Jewish faith has quite a long history here.  The first to settle came with the Dutch and there is still a small community of Indonesian Ashkenazis in Jakarta.  The location of the Jakarta synagogue is a closely held secret, for obvious reasons.  The Jews living in Surabaya are mostly Sephardi, their ancestors arriving from what is now Iraq in the 1920s, fleeing persecution.  Judging from this photoessay, there is at least one other synagogue, in Manado.  Quite an unusual building.  You can also see the interior of the Surabaya synagogue there.

During the Second World War, most of Indonesian Jewry were rounded up by the Japanese, along with the Dutch and other Europeans.  They enjoyed equal treatment with the other captives (as far as one can use the word ‘enjoy’) until a visiting Gestapo member called on his Japanese hosts to single them out for special treatment.  Fortunately this was late in the war and there was no particular effort to exterminate them as happened in Europe.

After the war, some European Jews settled in Indonesia seeking a place free of ancient prejudices.  This period of growth in numbers didn’t last long after Indonesia’s independence as President Soekarno considered them to be akin to the Dutch and their businesses subject to nationalisation.  Under the second president, Suharto’s long reign, there was some relief for the Jews.  But since then the public has gained greater freedom of expression and things have deteriorated until we have reached the present situation.

It is said that there are a few dozen Jews still living in Jakarta and Surabaya.  However, it is difficult to estimate accurately.  Some are not religious, others have married Muslims and their children do not necessarily follow their parent’s beliefs.  The Indonesian state only officially recognises six religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

It’s a shame that members of one of the world’s oldest religions, which has done so much to advance humanity, should be treated so poorly.  Of course, not everyone in Indonesia is anti-semitic.  Although Indonesia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, there is a facebook page for a virtual Israeli Embassy to Indonesia.  It boasts over 20,000 Indonesian ‘friends’, which is a considerable number.  I suspect the great majority of them are Evangelical Christians, hoping for the establishment of Zion as the first step towards the apocalypse.

I once met an American Jew in Jakarta who was looking for work.  He had fallen in love with a local Muslim girl and was hoping to get married.  I don’t think he had told his parents about this as Indonesian law would require him to convert to Islam.  I often wonder what happened to him.