Praying for Painless Holy Days
Thousands of Indonesians are celebrating this year’s Idul Fitri and Christmas holidays in refugee camps. Here are the stories of some of the victims of ethnic and sectarian violence that has rocked the nation for the past two years.
December 18, 2000
A replica of a mosque and a tall Christmas tree stand side by side in the middle of a shopping mall on a busy West Jakarta street. The symbols of Islam and Christianity are being posted in the area by shopkeepers, to mark the coming Muslim Idul Fitri holiday, and Christmas for the Christians. This year the two holidays come at almost the same time—with Idul Fitri coming only two days after Christmas.
For the citizens of Jakarta, the coi
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