Indonesian sectarian deaths blamed on ID cards

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Indonesia's small, plastic identity cards may seem innocuous enough but campaigners who are trying to have the compulsory religion category dropped say they are behind many sectarian killings.

"People have been killed in sectarian conflicts because religion is mentioned on the cards," said activist Maya Safira, who heads a non-profit group that seeks to embrace Indonesians of different backgrounds.

Safira's National Integration Movement wants religion removed from the cards because Muslim-majority Indonesia has a history of religious conflict.

"We are concerned about these divisions," she told AFP at her group's headquarters in Jakarta, where religious symbols are sprawled across the walls to indicate all are welcome at her organisation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070407/lf_afp/indonesiareligionviolencecards_070407183428