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I think the killers used anything they could grasp, or invent, to justify the murders, at one point they said communists were atheists, so surely they (the kill

I think the killers used anything they could grasp, or invent, to justify the murders, at one point they said communists were atheists, so surely they (the killers) were helping the communists to heaven, because... logic. It lead to this scene they shot for the movie-in-a-movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ta9To14yw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ta9To14yw, during it an actor gives Anwar (the killer) a medal and thanks him for executing him, because that sent him to heaven.

wahern 5y ago
The "communists" were "atheists" is another way of saying the "Chinese" weren't "Muslim". Except it's all far more banal than that because most people aren't religious zealots; religion is just one of the principle stand-ins for social and ethnic affiliation that also gives their animus a moralistic color. It helps to understand something about the Chinese diaspora elsewhere in SE Asia. They generally didn't assimilate culturally and didn't adopt native religions like Christianity or Islam. Adoption of Buddhism (e.g. Thailand and Myanmar) was more common, but Buddhism doesn't preclude ancestor worship or other common quasi-religious practices and thus doesn't require rejecting Chinese culture. Similarly, Straits Chinese (Peranakan), from a much older wave of immigration, did adopt Islam but nonetheless fashioned an entirely distinct culture of their own. Such partial assimilation made it easier to cast doubt on the sincerity of their faith. Again, proving the rule, in Vietnam most Catholic conversions were ethnic Chinese, thus much about French Indochina and the Vietnam War doesn't make sense without understanding the ethnic components. Over 80% of post-war Vietnamese refugees were actually ethnic Han Chinese. This also goes a long way toward explaining why both Malaysia and Indonesia refused to give refugees safe harbor, often towing their boats back out to sea where they were pillaged and sunk by pirates.

wahern 5y ago

The "communists" were "atheists" is another way of saying the "Chinese" weren't "Muslim". Except it's all far more banal than that because most people aren't religious zealots; religion is just one of the principle stand-ins for social and ethnic affiliation that also gives their animus a moralistic color. It helps to understand something about the Chinese diaspora elsewhere in SE Asia. They generally didn't assimilate culturally and didn't adopt native religions like Christianity or Islam. Adoption of Buddhism (e.g. Thailand and Myanmar) was more common, but Buddhism doesn't preclude ancestor worship or other common quasi-religious practices and thus doesn't require rejecting Chinese culture. Similarly, Straits Chinese (Peranakan), from a much older wave of immigration, did adopt Islam but nonetheless fashioned an entirely distinct culture of their own. Such partial assimilation made it easier to cast doubt on the sincerity of their faith. Again, proving the rule, in Vietnam most Catholic conversions were ethnic Chinese, thus much about French Indochina and the Vietnam War doesn't make sense without understanding the ethnic components. Over 80% of post-war Vietnamese refugees were actually ethnic Han Chinese. This also goes a long way toward explaining why both Malaysia and Indonesia refused to give refugees safe harbor, often towing their boats back out to sea where they were pillaged and sunk by pirates.