When Yaakov Baruch, a member of majority-Muslim Indonesia’s tiny Jewish community, set out to build a Holocaust museum in his country, he wanted it to stand as a symbol against genocide and bigotry. He reached out to Yad Vashem, the main Holocaust museum in Israel, for images and other exhibition material illustrating Nazi horrors against European Jews. Late last month, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, he hosted an opening ceremony that was attended by the German ambassador to Indonesia.The museum—a modest single-story structure in the lakeside town of Tondano on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island—now faces calls for its closure.A number of Muslim clerics and Islamist politicians have argued it has no place in Indonesia, which, like many predominantly Muslim nations, doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Israel. By focusing on historical wrongs against Jews, they say, it distracts from Israel’s present-day treatment of Palestinians.A major Indonesian television network, tvOne, hosted a 90-minute prime-time debate this past week titled, “Fuss Over the Jewish Museum.” The program featured conservative Muslim figures, one of whom used dehumanizing and inflammatory language and called the Holocaust a giant hoax. Mr. Baruch, also on the program, pushed back....In the days after the Holocaust museum’s Jan. 27 opening, senior clerics with Majelis Ulama Indonesia, an influential clerical body, gave interviews to local television networks criticizing the project. Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, who heads the organization’s international-relations division, said although he condemns the Holocaust, the situation in the Middle East means the timing isn’t right for a museum covering it.Hidayat Nur Wahid, a vice-speaker of Indonesia’s national legislature, called on local political leaders to reject the museum, saying it could be part of a campaign for normalizing ties with Israel, and could be used by Israel as a propaganda tool.
As is always the case with antisemitism, the excuses to oppose anything that shows Jews as human beings are all over the place - and antisemitic:
Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian People's Consultative Assembly, Dr. HM Hidayat Nur Wahid, MA supports the attitude of MUI and Islamic organizations that reject the presence of the Holocaust Museum and the Holocaust photo exhibition in Tondano, Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi."We support the attitude of the MUI Chair for Foreign Cooperation and International Relations, Prof. DR Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim. He asked to stop the photo exhibition and the Holocaust Museum in Tondano, because it has the potential to create unrest and is counterproductive to efforts to defend Palestine that the Indonesian government and people are fighting for," said HNW, as he is known, Monday (31/1/22) in Jakarta.
According to HNW, apart from that, the Holocaust Museum also has the potential to trigger unnecessary uproar among the Indonesian public. Where we are currently concentrating on dealing with the wave of Omicron variants," he added.This member of Commission VIII DPR RI also questioned the motive for the opening of the photo exhibition and the Holocaust Museum in Tondano. “What interest? This needs to be questioned. If the reason is preventing anti-Semitism, then, Indonesia, which does not ratify the law, is actually being shown acts of terror and genocide and a kind of holocaust by Israel against the Palestinians every day," he explained.Israel's intolerant behavior towards Palestine is what Israel always shows. As a party who claims to be a victim of the Nazi Holocaust, Israel should not repeat the same thing to other nations, in this case Palestine. However, the proof is that Israel is no less cruel to the Palestinians."So the Holocaust museum, if needed, should be for Israel itself. To raise collective awareness in Israel how evil the holocaust is, so that Israel itself will not repeat it against any nation. So that it can bring peace and stop the crimes of the Holocaust, racism and Israel's intolerance towards Palestine," quipped HNW.So, he continued, clearly, there is no need for a Holocaust museum in Indonesia, which is already very tolerant, not racist, and has not carried out the Holocaust against any ethnicity or nation. In fact, the Indonesian people have experienced a kind of holocaust perpetrated by the henchmen of the Dutch colonialists, Westerling et al, against tens of thousands of civilians in South Sulawesi in 1946-1947.If we continue, we will open a lot of veils about the nature of the Holocaust and the events that preceded it. Because apparently there are also important documents; Haavara Agreement, which was agreed in 1933 between the Zionist organizations in Germany and Britain with the Nazi regime for the migration of 60,000 German Jews to Palestine."So we should be very suspicious if there is an ulterior motive for establishing a museum in Indonesia. Perhaps this is part of a maneuver to smooth the plan to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Indonesia.The Deputy Chair of the PKS Shura Council, in fact, said that the opening of the photo exhibition and the Holocaust Museum in Tondano tends to hold more negative potential, and forcing its presence in Indonesia is also like an exhibition of intolerance and manipulation of Israel's contemporary history as a looting and colonial state, terrorists and terrorists. crimes against humanity against Palestine.Therefore, HNW urges that the committee of the Holocaust photo exhibition and museum in Tondano be tolerant of the Indonesian nation and state which rejects Israel's occupation of Palestine. And therefore, in order to immediately close and there is no need to continue the Holocaust museum.
At least this other critic was honest in his Jew-hatred:
Member of Commission I DPR from the PKS faction, Sukamta, commented on the construction of the Holocaust Museum by the Jewish community in Tondano, Minahasa, North Sulawesi. Sukamta assessed that this issue is quite sensitive in Indonesia.Sukamta said that the state of Israel is identical with the Jews, although there are also Jews who do not agree with the establishment of the State of Israel.
One thing is for sure: None of the "anti-Zionists-not-antisemites" will condemn the Indonesian critics of the museum for their clear Jew-hate. Because there are lots of exceptions to allow antisemitism for these "progressives," and being Muslim is one of them.
