Batak Protestants demand punishment for military chief
JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Toba Batak Christian Chuch (HKBP) opposed to their government-appointed bishop demonstrated at the House of Representatives (DPR) yesterday alleging that the military has been torturing members of their dissident faction.
Two hundred thirty reverends in black robes and about two hundred followers of the North Sumatra-based church staged the peaceful protest under the watchful eyes of security authorities.
They were met by House members from the government-backed Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), who promised to convey their wishes to relevant government officials.
The delegation was of congregation members loyal to former bishop S.A.E. Nababan. The military stepped into the conflict- ridden church last year by appointing P.W.T. Simanjuntak as the new bishop after a grand synod failed to elect a new leader.
Nababan's followers have rejected Simanjuntak's election calling it undemocratic. The row has often erupted into clashes between the opposing camps.
The protesters demanded yesterday that North Sumatra military chief Maj. Gen. A. Pramono be punished for naming the new bishop and meddling in the church's internal affairs.
"Pramono ...violated the laws when he named the bishop," Rev. Martono Sitinjak told the Golkar House members.
The delegation also demanded that the military relinquish their right to use churches and liquidate the security units it has set up to secure Simanjuntak's leadership.
They also sought the House's support for a democratic grand synod to elect a new bishop and demanded that Simanjuntak and his secretary general S.M. Siahaan be brought to court for trampling on church rules.
Martono said that to secure Simanjuntak's leadership, security authorities in North Sumatra had barred his faction members from using the churches and abducted and tortured dissident reverends.
Since last year 220 reverends have been tortured in detention and some of those are still being held, he said.
Live in fears
According to the protesters, thousands of HKBP members now live in fear as security authorities have recruited thugs to terrorize and blackmail dissident members, vandalizing their houses and intimidating them.
Sitinjak said a member of his congregation, Herbert Hutasoit, was found murdered last month in a village in north Sumatra. "His eyes had been gouged out and his penis cut off."
Neither the North Sumatra military nor the Simanjuntak board were available to comment on the allegations yesterday.
House member B.N. Marbun from the PDI supported the protesters' demand that the government allow HKBP to conduct an independent grand synod to end the conflict. "We fear the bickering will drag on and animosity among congregation members will deepen without the government's goodwill to resolve it amicably," he said.
The House members promised the HKBP crisis will be raised in a hearing with Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher and Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung scheduled for today.
Several reverends insisted they would stay at the House complex until they obtained formal guarantee they would not be arrested or harassed upon their return.
They said their reports on their plight to various government agencies and the National Commission on Human Rights has not brought any concrete results. (pan)