Subject: Indonesian Christians
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Saturday, August 23, 2008, 12:47 AM
Attack forces Indonesian Christians
By Sara Schonhardt, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living
in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month
wielding bamboo spears and hurling Molotov cocktails.
The incident comes amid growing concern that Indonesia's tradition of religious
tolerance is under threat from Islamic hard-liners.
In talks since the attack, the Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology has
reluctantly agreed to shut its 20-year-old campus in east Jakarta, accepting an
offer this week to move to a small office building on the other side of the
Indonesian capital.
"Why should we be forced from our house while our attackers can walk freely?"
asked the Rev. Matheus Mangentang, chairman of the 1,400-student school.
The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which relies on the
support of Islamic parties in Parliament, is struggling to balance deep Islamic
traditions and a secular constitution. With elections coming next April, the
government seems unwilling to defend religious minorities, lest it be portrayed
as anti-Islamic in what is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.
The July 25 attack, which injured 18 students, was the culmination of years of
simmering tensions between the school and residents of the Kampung Pulo
neighbourhood.
Senny Manave, a spokesman for the Christian school, said complaints were
received from neighbours about prayers and the singing of hymns, which they
considered disturbing evangelical activity.
Several neighbours refused to comment, saying they feared that could further
strain relations. A prominent banner, signed by scores of people, has been hung
over an entrance to the neighbourhood.
"We the community of Kampung Pulo demand the campus be closed and dissolved,"
it says.
The assault began around midnight, when students woke to the crash of stones
falling on their dormitory roof as a voice over a loudspeaker at a nearby
mosque cried "Allah Akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic.
The unidentified speaker urged residents to rise up against their "unwanted
neighbours," said Sairin, the head of campus security, who goes by a single
name.
The attack followed a claim that a student had broken into a resident's house,
but police dismissed the charge.
Uneasy relations date to 2003, when neighbours began to protest the school's
presence. Last year, residents set fire to shelters for construction workers to
try to stop the campus from expanding deeper into the neighbourhood. Some also
questioned the legality of the school's permit.
Christian legislator Karol Daniel Kadang accused property speculators of
provoking last month's incident to clear the land for more profitable use,
after the school refused to sell out.
He also blamed the government for failing to build interfaith relations, which
he and others believe are beginning to fray.
"People are still tolerant, but there is a growing suspicion among Muslims of
others," said Prof. Franz Magnis-Suseno, a Jesuit priest who has lived in
Indonesia for half a century.
He added that the police have failed to prevent both attacks on minorities and
the forced closure of Christian churches and nontraditional mosques by mobs
incited by radical Muslims.
"The state has some responsibility for this growing intolerance, namely by not
upholding the law," he said.
A mob stormed a church service last Sunday in another east Jakarta
neighborhood, forcing dozens of Christian worshippers to flee, said Jakarta
Police Chief Col. Carlo Tewu. No arrests have been made.
Since being driven from campus, nearly 600 female students have been sleeping
under suspended tarps at a nearby scout camp, where they had to dig trenches to
keep water out during downpours. Classes are held with megaphones in the
sweltering summer heat, under trees or the tarps. A similar number of male
students live in a guesthouse. The remainder have returned to their families.
Food, water and school supplies are donated by church groups and community
charities.
"We feel like refugees in our own country," said Dessy Nope, 19, a second-year
student majoring in education. "How can you study here? I only followed 20 per
cent of my last lesson. It's difficult to concentrate."
Christians have not been the only targets for Muslim hard-liners, who this year
set fire to mosques of a Muslim sect, Ahmadiyah, that they consider heretical.
In June, the government ordered members of the sect to return to mainstream
Islam, sparking concern among activists who fear the state is interfering in
matters of faith and caving in to the demands of radicals.
"We're living in a country where there are many religions, but the government
cannot prevent the actions of fundamentalist groups," said Manave, the school
spokesman. "The government cannot protect minorities."
