From: "John Barr" <jbarr@nat.uca.org.au>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 9:02 AM
Subject: Updates on Indonesia and East Timor
Indonesia Update -
6 March 2001
President of the Uniting Church
travels to a "paradise lost"
Nothing could have prepared
James Haire, President of the Uniting Church in
Australia, for his return
to Halmahera. James was a missionary in these
islands where he served as
a minister and a teacher for 13 years. In mid
February this year he travelled
to Halmahera by boat. It was a risky venture
for the seas are controlled
by warring jihad forces and in the past 12
months more than 600 people
have drowned at sea because of heavy storms.
James says Halmahera was once
a kind of tropical "paradise". Now it is hell.
A once harmonious community
has been torn apart by violence as Muslim
extremists have attacked and
killed thousands of people. Some Christians
have retaliated and the result
is a deeply divided community where
gun-running is rampant and
people live in fear of further attacks.
During his recent experience
in Halmahera, James recalls the time he went to
pray with a refugee family.
As he prayed he couldn't help notice an M16
automatic weapon hanging on
the end of a bed. Asking about the gun, the
reply came that "we have to
take precautions and protect ourselves against
the jihad". James also
spoke to victims of Duma village where more than one
hundred people had been massacred
last year. Most of those who survived are
widows, widowers and orphans.
Duma once boasted a beautiful church. Now it
is ashes. In Duma the jihad
embarked on a policy of religious cleansing and
even the Duma's Christian
past was desecrated as the graves of old Dutch
missionaries were dug up and
their remains were thrown into a lake.
Further south, many Christians
were forced to convert to Islam and incidents
of forced circumcision took
place. These forced circumcisions were reported
as happening not only among
men but, tragically, among young girls and even
older women.
In basic terms, Halmahera has
experienced a "scorched earth policy" as
Muslim Jihad warriors try
to wipe out anything that is Christian. Meanwhile
Christian militia have retaliated,
burning mosques, cutting down those who
attack them and expelling
large numbers of Muslims. Today there are tens of
thousands of displaced Muslims
seeking shelter on the tiny islands of
Ternate and Tidore while tens
of thousands of Christians take shelter in
North Sulawesi around the
city of Manado.
James returned to Halmahera
in February to participate in a special synod of
the church. The meeting took
place because Christian leaders in the area
want to address the urgent
need for reconciliation and peace. Local Muslims
echo this concern and the
church is embarking on a determined effort to
bring people together, to
address the trauma, and to try and settle the
differences.
Rev Agustinus Aesh, Moderator
of the Evangelical Christian Church in
Halmahera, refuses to sanction
any form of violence or retaliation. "We have
to find ways of living in
peace" he says. "There must always be a place for
Christians and Muslims in
Halmahera...we have to learn to live together
again".
The tragedy of Halmahera and
other parts of Maluku is that peace, trust and
co-operation between different
religious groups has all but been destroyed
by the intrusion of outside
forces. Religious extremists with a political
agenda are attempting to destabilise
many areas of Indonesia.
The good news is that James
believes local communities are seeing through
this and are now prepared
to try and work together for reconciliation.
Despite this living hell,
people are willing to give peace a go. It's just a
beginning but things are starting
to happen.
In our commitment to serving
the people of Indonesia and addressing the
crisis in the region, the
Uniting Church in Australia is actively engaged in
encouraging this peace process.
It's a vital strategy for we believe peace
making is an essential part
of Halmahera's reconstruction.
We also continue to support
emergency humanitarian aid as refugee camps are
still overflowing in Manado
and people continue to be desperately poor. They
have no income and no land
to sustain themselves and their families.
Our hope and prayer is that
James' "paradise lost" may one day return to a
time of mutual respect, trust
and co-operation. We believe this is indeed
possible and we work tirelessly
towards it. There is no other option.
Rev John Barr
Secretary for Indonesia and
East Timor
Uniting Church in Australia
National Assembly
PO Box A2266 Sydney South
1235, Australia
Phone 02 8267 4251
Fax 02 8267 4222
Email: jbarr@nat.uca.org.au
