wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Christian-Muslim reconciliation in Indonesia

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>For immediate release - 23/07/2008 17:47:33

REKINDLING HOPE, RENEWING THE TRADITION OF CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM
COOPERATION IN SULAWESI 

>Free photo available (see below)
>By Maurice Malanes (*)

The concrete wall behind the altar of the Christian Church of
Central Sulawesi in Palu, Indonesia still bears marks from two
bullets just three inches to the right of a framed cross-stitch
portrait of Jesus Christ.

Four years ago, on 18 July 2004, the two bullets were among
those fired from an assassin’s automatic rifle which ended the
life of Rev. Susianti Tinulele, who had just finished preaching
during an evening worship service. Tinulele, 28, was one of a
growing number of women pastors in Indonesia.

The death of Tinulele and another pastor formed part of a wave
of violence and killing which erupted in 2000 in the
Muslim-dominated Central Sulawesi district of Poso. Reports say a
brawl between a Christian and a Muslim youth triggered the
violence. 

In the anti-Christian attacks that followed, people were killed
and homes were destroyed. So-called Christian "Black Bat" raiders
retaliated in May 2000, killing hundreds of Muslims.

The violence further intensified when the armed Laskar Jihad in
August 2001 declared jihador "holy war" and dispatched fighters
to Poso. The radical group provided Muslim paramilitary troops
with AK-47s, grenade and rocket launchers, bulldozers and tanker
trucks and launched "a scorched-earth campaign", destroying
dozens of Christian villages and pushing 50,000 refugees into the
Christian majority lakeside town of Tentena, reports the
International Crisis Group.

Currently a "Living Letters (

http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc/living-letters-visits.html
)" group from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is visiting the
region to learn about the situation and how the Christian and
Muslim communities have worked toward peace.

The Living Letters teams travel to locations around the world
where Christians strive to overcome violence and encourage the
church and local leaders to promote peaceful means of resolving
differences. The teams are traveling in advance of the
International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (
http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc )to be held in Jamaica
in May 2011.

Leaders and members of Tinulele’s church in this capital city of
Central Sulawesi still mourn the loss of their beloved pastor.
But they see a "greater message" from that evening's tragedy –
how to live their faith in Christ despite all violence.

That message must have something to do with "how we could
practice our discipleship" because what happened "couldn’t even
compare to the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross," says
Desyiranti Tengkende in a written testimony.

Tengkende, who was only a ten-year old girl then, lost an eye
during that fateful evening. She was among four injured during
that shooting by a masked sniper positioned at the main door of
the church. The church was filled with more than 500 mostly young
parishioners. The assassin was accompanied by three other men who
all fled on two motorcycles after the incident.

In her testimony in Bahasa she shares how, by further
strengthening her faith, she overcame the trauma she suffered. 

"The death of Susianti strengthened us to move forward and serve
others, replacing our hatred, anger and fear with love and
compassion to build brotherhood and sisterhood among us," says
Rev. Jetroson Rense, the church’s current pastor. 

Rita Aryani Kupa shares Rense’s spirit of forgiveness and
Tengkende’s leap of faith. "It’s through God’s grace and guidance
that I have learned to cope with that tragedy," says Kupa in an
interview. 

Kupa, mother of three, is referring to another tragedy – the 26
October 2006 assassination of her husband, Rev. Irianto Kongkoli,
the then Synod general secretary of the Christian Church in
Central Sulawesi, two years after Tinulele’s killing.

Kupa, a policewoman, sees hope in her three children, two of
whom have chosen to follow in the footsteps of their late father
by enrolling in seminary. 

"I have to stretch my salary as a policewoman because the Synod
has no funds to pay for the pension of my late husband, but with
God’s help my eldest son will be graduating in a year or so," she
says.

>Rebuilding ties

The violence in Central Sulawesi essentially had run its course
before the government authorities intervened, notes the
International Crisis Group. Authorities did not try to suppress
the well-armed Laskar Jihad and other irregular forces but sought
to mediate an agreement between the combatants. 

In January 2007, the police launched operations, reportedly
driving away teachers of radical Islam in Poso who came from
Java, and arresting perpetrators of jihad-related crimes without
any backlash, at least up to this time. 

With the relative peace in Poso, Christian and Muslim leaders
have sought to pick up the pieces from the rubble of the conflict
by renewing ties, establishing dialogues and rebuilding what they
said was a long tradition of cooperation between members of the
two faith communities.

"The conflict has challenged us to teach young Christians to
learn and understand more about Islam in order to avoid
Islamophobia (fear of Islam)," says Rev. Ishak Pule, first
chairman of the Christian Church of Central Sulawesi Synod. "It
is this lack of understanding that separates us from one
another."

Pule met last 19 July with members of the Living Letters team
sent to Indonesia by the World Council of Churches at his office
in Tentena by the Lake Poso.

Pule reveals that after the conflict had subsided both Christian
and Muslim leaders instituted what is called the Communication
Forum for Religious Harmony which continually seeks to promote
dialogue and understanding between the two faith communities.

"What happened in Poso was not an issue of religion.
Unfortunately, some people have politicized religion, using it
for the wrong purpose," says Abdul Malik Syahadat, a Muslim
leader who now chairs the interfaith Communication Forum. "All
people of Indonesia want to be safe and in peace. So let us now
work towards peace and harmony."

Shahadat was among three Muslim leaders who met with the Living
Letters team 19 July at Pule’s office. 

Noting signs towards normalcy and stability in Poso, Haji Yahya
Mangun, another Muslim leader and secretary of the Forum, says an
immediate concern is how to convince those who left Poso to
return and rebuild their lives. 

That the number of police personnel dispatched to Poso has been
reduced from 235 in 2003 to only 12 since 2006 indicates a trend
toward normalization, says Mangun. 

"We actually had a culture of working and living together and
helping each other," he adds. He cites how Christians and Muslims
would help each other in farm work and in religious feasts,
sharing food together because Christians knew what types of food
were appropriate for their Muslim brethren.

Mangun is among the Muslim leaders who seek to rekindle this
history of cooperation between members of the faiths. 

With such desire, and having instituted mechanisms for dialogue,
the signs of tolerance and co-existence are evident in Tentena. 

On 28 May 2005 someone bombed Tentena’s public market, killing
22 people, mostly Christians.

But last 20 July, a Sunday, members of the Living Letters team
were awakened by the early morning prayer of a Muslim muezzin in
a nearby mosque and a lively choir from a Christian church, all
mixing it up with crowing roosters as the sun rose over Tentena.

>[1'164 words]

(*) Maurice Malanesis a freelance journalist from the
Philippines. Currently a correspondent for Ecumenical News
International (ENI), he also writes for the Manila-based
Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the Bangkok-based Union of
Catholic Asian News (UCAN).

Free photo to accompany this article (credit: Maurice
Malanes/WCC):
http://oikoumene.org/fileadmin/dov/files/living_letters/Indonesia/tentena.jpg

More information on the Living Letters visit to Indonesia:
http://overcomingviolence.org/en/iepc/living-letters-visits/indonesia.html

>WCC member churches in Indonesia:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4671

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect
WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing
credit is given to the author. 

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

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