wfn.org | Church Visit to Indonesia

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
9 February 1999

INTERNATIONAL CHURCH VISIT TO INDONESIA

Following a visit to Indonesia, a joint World Council of Churches
(WCC)/Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) team has called on the
Indonesian government urgently to identify and bring to justice those
responsible for the burning and destruction of places of worship, as well
as communal violence involving Christians and Muslims, and members of
the ethnic Chinese minority.

During the visit, which took place 27 January - 3 February, the
nine-member team held talks with President B.J.Habibie and told him they
found it difficult to understand why the Indonesian government had so
far failed to identify those who in the May 1998 riots and subsequently
had organised or carried out acts of violence against people and
property.

Indonesians are proud of their tradition of religious pluralism.  However,
despite this, 544 churches have been destroyed since the country's
independence in 1945 and this phenomenon continues today.  In
mid-January 1999, a few days before the delegation arrived in Jakarta,
the port city of Ambon, where Muslims and Christians have long lived
side by side in peace, witnessed a wave of communal violence and
destruction that left over forty people dead and many mosques and
churches destroyed.

In discussions with the WCC/CCA team, President Habibie and other
senior government officials spoke strongly against those responsible for
the violence, and condemned the attacks on churches and mosques, as
well as the fostering of religious hostility.  The president pledged to bring
the perpetrators to justice.  However, in the context of recent
developments in Indonesia, the President told the team, " I am involved in
Mission Impossible".

The ecumenical team is convinced the violence in Indonesia is not
primarily an expression of religious hatred but rather the result of
economic and political factors.  Also, Indonesia is a place where freedom
of expression was repressed for many years but now the country is
experiencieng a new kind of liberty.  No one is sure what will happen in
the future, particularly after the parliamentary elections in June for which
over 200 parties have registered.  The team says the situation in
Indonesia is one of absolute confusion in which religion and ethnicity
have been exploited by members of power elites.  The delegation was
encouraged to hear of Muslim neighbours who had provided shelter to
Christian families under attack, and of Muslim young people who had
protected a church from being destroyed.

As well as a smooth election process and the bringing to justice of the
perpetrators of violence, the team also concluded that conflict resolution
in Indonesia requires

- the enactment of legislation to ensure greater autonomy for the
provinces

- a just resolution of the demands for self-determination in East Timor and
Irian Jaya

- the establishment of social organisations to build harmony among the
country's diverse religious and ethnic groups

- increased capacity to mobilise domestic and foreign human and
financial resources in order to eradicate persistent poverty and improve
the overall economic outlook of the country

- a change in the conditions imposed by Indonesia's international
creditors, particularly the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank.

The WCC/CCA team visit included time in Irian Jaya. Here, the team found
a clear wish for independence among all sectors of society, including the
churches.  However, in Jakarta, government officials, including Foreign
Minister Ali Alatas, made it clear to the team that Irian Jaya is an integral
part of Indonesia and there is no parallel with East Timor.  Nevertheless,
the team found that the hopes of Irianese people were understandably
raised by the government's recent announcement on the independence
of East Timor.

The team discovered the delay in convening the National Dialogue,
proposed in September 1998 and agreed to by President Habibie, has
caused frustration and confusion in Irian Jaya.  The delegation was
concerned that church leaders, both Protestants and Catholics, as well
as tribal chiefs, NGOs and student representatives had spent little time in
discussion with each other, in preparation for the National Dialogue.

The WCC/CCA delegation now calls on the Indonesian Government to
initiate the National Dialogue without delay and to ensure the people of
Irian Jaya are properly represented in that dialogue without conditions.

The team also calls on the UN Commission on Human Rights to look into
human rights violations in Irian Jaya which includes arbitrary arrests,
extra-judicial killings, and the violation of the right to freedom of
expression and of the socio-economic and cultural rights of the Irianese
people as a result of the Indonesian government's programme of
transmigration.

The Team Leader was Rev. David Gill, General Secretary, National
Council of Churches in Australia.  Phone (+61.2.92) 99.22.15; Fax
62.45.14; E-mail <nccasyd@peg.apc.org>.
WCC staff member, Clement John was also a member of the team and is
available for interview.  Phone (+41.22) 791.62.18; 788.05.43 (home);
E-mail <ch@wcc-coe.org> .

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 338, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but
works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the
Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC
was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

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