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Note #8428 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04311
July 14, 2004

Witness

Widow of pastor killed in jihad breaks her long silence

by John Filiatreau

MANADO, Indonesia - "It was on a Saturday morning, in our village on the
island of Lata-Lata, that my husband, pastor Jusuf Pattiasina, was killed."

	With that deliberate sentence, Dian Pattiasina broke a four-year-long
silence about what befell her family that morning in February 2000 when what
she calls "the jihad group" attacked her village without warning.

	One Muslim force came from the sea, driving 23 speedboats right up on
the beach, while a second group attacked from the landward side. The 2,000
jihadists wore white headbands and shouted "Allah Akbar!" as they hacked at
the Christians with three-foot-long coconut knives and set fire to their
thatched-roof houses.

	The Christians were outnumbered and taken by surprise and had nowhere
to run. At least 44 people, all Christians, were killed. The centuries-old
village, including Pattiasina's Akedabo Christian Church, was burned to the
ground.

	The slaughter took place in a South Pacific paradise where Dutch
mariners once made vast fortunes dealing in rare and precious condiments;
where the aromas of clove and nutmeg perfume the air: the Moluccas, also
known as the Spice Islands, now split into two Indonesian provinces, Maluku
and North Maluku.

	"We hid in the jungle; half of the village was with us," Dian goes
on. "And while we were hiding there, the chief of our village came to this
place, by himself, looking for my husband and me. He said the coast was
clear. He said 'authorities' had arrived and restored order. My husband asked
where from were these 'authorities'? From Java, or from North Moluccas?
Because if it is Java, we may be saved, but if the Moluccas, perhaps not.
Already we had begun hearing about ... bloody things."

	Dian Pattiasina paused, her imagination no doubt revisiting familiar
"bloody things." But her expression didn't change. She didn't weep; anger
didn't flash in her brown eyes; she didn't look up for reassuring smiles on
the faces of the others. She just went on with her grave task of witness, her
visage a mask.

	"When they convinced my husband to come out, he said, 'Please wait, I
want to pray first,' but they put a blindfold on his face and tied his hands
behind his back. ... Then a speedboat full of soldiers suddenly ran up the
beach, and the people were shocked and frightened, and they all scattered.
Some of the leading people of the village were taken away. I was able to find
my children. I only prayed, 'God, please, please, save my husband's life.'"

	 Dian's two children are Rose, now 20, who no longer lives with her
mother and is said to be unwilling to talk about what happened to her father;
and Liberto, a 9-year-old boy better known by his nickname, "Rambo." He lives
with Dian and is her reason for living.

	"Later, I came to know that my husband was already killed," she says.
"It just came to me. Everyone knew it, but at that time I couldn't listen to
bad stories. Every time I thought about my husband, I felt very sad.

	"I want very much to get him back, even if it's only his bones, and
to make a funeral. ... I prayed, 'Please, husband, I know you are dead, but I
want you buried at my home.' According to the stories the people told me, he
was first taken blindfolded to a mosque and ordered to convert, to become a
Muslim, but he would not. At the mosque he was harassed before he was killed,
and shown to the crowd. Once again he asked permission to pray. They say he
was stabbed while he was praying. ... Still, I thought to myself for a long
time, in my heart, 'Maybe my husband is still alive.' But I knew he wasn't.
All I have of him now is his Bible."

	The minister had escaped to the jungle with the clothing he had on,
the Bible and the family savings of about 2 million rupiah (about $200 US).

	Although the translator said "stabbed," numerous eyewitnesses have
testified that Rev. Pattiasina and three elders from his church were beheaded
on the beach and buried on the spot.

	The exiled Christians had stayed in the jungle for more than two
weeks. This was very hard on the old people and the children. Many came down
with malaria, and several died. Two women gave birth in the jungle. The
Christians had little water and no food. Eventually their chief, Isaac
Garera, realized that they had to give themselves up.

	During surrender negotiations, the Muslims asked Garera about
Pattiasina. "We had to give him up ... to show our determination to be
Muslims," the chief said. "We could not do this, so the Rev. Jusuf Benjamin
Pattiasina gave himself up willingly."

	Dian, like the other villagers, was told to choose for herself and
her family between death and conversion to Islam. She chose Islam. Then for
several months, she and her children were schooled in Muslim practice and
made to memorize passages from the Koran. She wore the Muslim head covering,
the jilbab. And like the other Christians-turned-Muslims, she suffered daily
"harassment" at the hands of their conquerors.

	"We pretended to be Muslim," she says. "In our hearts, of course, we
were still worshipping Jesus."

	And planning an escape. After months of conspiring, Dian used her
husband's legacy to buy passage for herself and her children on a small Navy
boat (commanded by a Christian sailor) to refuge on the island of Ternate.