Christmas peaceful in Jakarta amid tight security

Christmas peaceful in Jakarta amid tight security

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Christmas services in churches across the capital proceeded
peacefully on Saturday evening and Sunday morning as police and
religious groups secured the events.

At Saint Yoseph church in Matraman, East Jakarta, where a bomb
went off in front on Christmas Eve 2000 and killed three people,
around 5,000 people attended the Christmas celebration. The 2000
terror attacks on churches -- most in Jakarta -- killed 19 people
and injured dozens of others.

"We pray that the Divine Light of Christmas dispel darkness
and suffering caused by wars, natural disasters, evictions, lay-
offs, unemployment and drug abuse," congregation members said,
reading out a prayer from the program.

Hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the tsunami
that killed more than 130,000 people in Banda Aceh and Nias on
Dec. 26, 2004, while the recent fuel price increases have forced
companies to lay off tens of thousands of workers.

City police deployed around 17,000 officers to guard more than
1,200 churches and strategic locations in Greater Jakarta. They
had earlier received intelligence reports suggesting terrorist
groups were out to avenge the death of top terrorist suspect
Malaysian Azahari bin Hussin, killed by police in Batu, Malang,
in early November.

"I am not afraid to attend the mass since I don't want to bow
down to fears of terror. If I don't go, they (the terrorists)
will win," said a churchgoer, Imam, 30, a resident of Salemba in
Central Jakarta.

Cecilia Sandra, a resident of Cawang in East Jakarta, said she
and her husband were still scared by threat of bombings and had
decided to attend Christmas mass at the Kristus Raja church in
Pejompongan in Central Jakarta instead of at the nearer Saint
Antonius church.

"I don't think that terrorists will blow up churches located
close to residential areas," she said.

"Thanks be to God, this Christmas has gone peacefully," she
said. Pastor Susilo Wijoyo, who led the mass, encouraged the
congregation not to be afraid because their lives were in the
hands of God.

Members of several community and religious groups also helped
secure celebrations at the Immanuel Church in Gambir, Central
Jakarta and at the Jakarta Cathedral.

"We welcome their help. They have been placed to ensure the
security around our church's neighborhoods as the police handle
security in the churches," Immanuel Church Christmas committee
chairman Hary Suhendar said.

At the century-old Jakarta Cathedral in Central Jakarta,
around 10,000 churchgoers also attended a solemn mass. The
management of the Istiqlal Grand Mosque across the street also
helped out, lending the church its parking lot.

Jakarta Cathedral pastor Wisnu Murti said the message of the
Christmas Eve's sermons focused on the importance of believers
bringing peace into family life.