Google Hosts Sharia Law App Enabling Muslims to Report Blasphemy and Heresy to the Police
On December 7, 2018, the Google Play Store approved the latest version of "Smart Pakem," an app that allows Muslims in Jakarta, the capital of the largest Muslim country on earth, to report violations of Sharia law such as blasphemy and even heresy. The app allows users to report people who practice unrecognized religions or unorthodox interpretations of Indonesia's six officially recognized faiths: Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Protestant Christianity, and Roman Catholic Christianity.
Since Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, it is very diverse. Some areas have a culture where Muslims and Christians live together in harmony, while other islands are rife with radical Islamic terrorism. This app suggests an increase in religious persecution in the country's capital, and Google should seriously rethink its support for this app.