American family accused of proselytizing expelled from Indonesia

An American family was expelled recently from Aceh, a devoutly Islamic province in Indonesia, after they were accused of proselytizing to Muslims.

Immigration officials said that they have not yet decided whether Robin Kay Jordan, wife Kelly and daughter Claire would face deportation. However they were forced to leave their rented house in West Aceh and have been transferred to the immigration office in North Sumatra, the AP said.

Proselytizing is illegal in Indonesia, a nation with the highest population of Muslims in the world at 237 million. Most of the Muslims are moderate, the AP said. However, only Aceh is permitted to partly implement the Shariah, and they have aggressively enforced it including banning women from wearing tight clothes and jeans, the Jakarta Globe said.

The Jordans, charity workers from California, were allegedly working with a social foundation in Meulaboh according to district spokesman Mulyagos, the AP said. When three Muslims from Samatiga subdistrict, some 15 kilometers away became Christian, the Jordans underwent local scrutiny, the Jakarta Globe said.

The West Aceh Ulema Council investigated the alleged three Indonesian converts, who had moved to Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. Mulyagus claimed to have a tape showing the three being baptized, and he states that the three said they were hypnotized, the Jakarta Globe said.

The three Indonesians were placed in an Islamic boarding school for education, Mulyagus said. According to the Jakarta Globe, the Americans moved to a hotel when neighbors threw stones at their rented home. They were then taken to the Meulaboh Immigration Office allegedly for their own safety.

The Jordans left Aceh on a chartered plane. They are still being investigated and a tape was confiscated from them, the Jakarta Globe said. According to Mulyagus the Jordans’ mission seeks to spread Christianity, hence, their expulsion from Aceh, the AP said.