wfn.org | Christians Flee Violence in Indonesia

[APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com]

August 30, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Adventists Flee Violence in Eastern Indonesia

Poso, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.    Seventh-day 
Adventist Church members from the eastern Indonesian 
island of Sulawesi are among the thousands of people 
enduring ongoing anti-Christian violence in 
Indonesia. To date, an estimated 400 Adventists have 
fled Poso, the main town in central Sulawesi, to 
escape the riots and killings caused by clashes 
between Islamic militants and
Christians.

In the Poso area, one Adventist church has been 
destroyed by rioters and two churches have been 
damaged, Adventist Church leaders in eastern 
Indonesia reported August 28.  The homes of two 
Adventist pastors have been burned down, along with 
14 homes of church members in the region.

Details about the physical condition of the hundreds 
of Adventist refugees are difficult to obtain, but 
church leaders in the area say that at least six 
church members have been wounded and 37 have 
reported being robbed or assaulted.  Leaders cannot 
confirm if any Adventists in the Poso area have been 
killed.

A wave of religiously motivated violence has 
engulfed many parts of Indonesia since January 1999, 
leaving an estimated 500,000 Christians without 
homes and 2,500 dead. Hiskia Missah, public affairs 
and religious liberty spokesperson for the Adventist 
church in the southern Asia-Pacific region, says 
that the situation in the eastern Indonesian Maluku 
Islands, is "becoming worse." He says that 
international
pressure, from the United Nations and other 
international human rights organizations, is vital.

"As a church family, we pray for our brothers and 
sisters in Indonesia and for the hundreds of 
thousands of others who are suffering the loss of 
loved ones or the destruction of their homes," says 
Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist 
Church worldwide.  "Violence in the name of religion 
can never be justified. The Adventist message is of 
a compassionate, freedom-loving God, and this is the 
message we will continue to proclaim with all our 
strength."

The Adventist Church has some 180,000 church members 
in Indonesia worshipping in more than 1,100 
churches. (259/2000)