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.