Christian named head of Indonesian police

Indonesia (MNN) — Indonesia has named an evangelical Christian, General Listyo Sigit Prabowoto, to be the head of the national police. He has vowed to support minorities and fight against extremism.

Vincent Michael of FMI says, “The current president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, has been a consistent advocate for minorities and especially minority religious groups, even though he himself is a committed Muslim. He has been a real friend of Christians. So this appointment of Listyo Sigit Prabowo is not surprising considering Joko Widodo’s track record. This is an encouraging development for the Christians in Indonesia because Prabowo has a track record of cracking down on corruption, and especially on discrimination against religious minorities.”

Reaction to the decision

The decision met approval from most corners, including many Muslims. Only certain Muslim groups objected to the placement. Michael says, “Most Muslims in Indonesia are supportive of tolerance, supportive of the religious minorities., but there is an increasingly growing vocal minority of Muslims that is much more fundamental in their stance, and intolerant of having Christians in any positions of power.”

Pray Indonesian Christians would boldly proclaim the lordship of Christ. Michael points out they still face resistance to their faith: “Oftentimes, especially in islands like Sumatra, Western Indonesia, and Western Java, the persecution is still severe. And it’s not going to necessarily get better right away. It could almost get worse, because of this appointment, because of the reactionary factor.”

The header photo shows an Indonesian police car. (AWG97, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)