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Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesia83The Writings from 1930-1940Natsir%u2019s writings during 1930-1940 appear to have beenintended to defend Islam. This is understandable, since theposition of Islam at that time was under severe attack by theChristian missionaries, secular-nationalist intellectuals andJavanese mystic proponents. Natsir felt a responsibility toexplain Islam proportionally by quoting its sources. He felt therewere too many misunderstandings of Islam and %u201cmanipulations%u201d of Islamic teachings launched by factions which werenot sympathetic to this religion. Within the context, for instance,we can understand the two articles first published in a Dutchnewspaper entitled %u201cQur%u2019an an Evangelic%u201d and %u201cMohammadas Prophet%u201d. These two articles were written in reply to thecriticism of Domingus Christoffel, a Protestant priest, of Islamand of the biography of the Prophet Mohammad.After the publication of these articles, Natsir wrote manyarticles in response to the activity of Christian missionaries inIndonesia. He harshly criticized Christian evangelism, whichwas very intensive in Christianizing Indonesians and wassupported by the Dutch colonial government. He viewed thecolonial government as not acting consistently with its %u201cneutral%u201dpolicy, as written in the constitution of the Dutch Indies (IndischeStaatsregeling), in its treatment of religions in Indonesia. Onthe one hand, the government, either directly or indirectly,supported Christian missionaries, while it also restrictedIslamic dakwah on the grounds of security and order. Almostno Islamic dakwah was free from the government secret police%u2019ssurveillance. Even though Muslims had to work hard, due tothe lack of available finance, expertise and sound management,