Church a Jakarta fixture amid changing times

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The capital of the world's largest Muslim country, Jakarta's sprawling houses of worship of many faiths shows its religious diversity.

There is the gigantic Buddhist temple near Ancol, North Jakarta, for instance, and several grand churches right in the heart of the city.

The old churches not only retain their function as places of worship today, but also speak of history, particularly the Dutch colonial era.

Hidden behind trees and a high wall amid busy Jl. Ridwan Rais, across from Tugu Tani monument and a five-star hotel, few would notice the existence of All Saints Anglican Church in Central Jakarta.

This is despite its historical significance as the first English-speaking institution in the country.

"The story of the church is not just the story of the Christian religious community. But also, if you like, a story about what happened to the English speaking-people. The information about the war, economic activity of English-speaking people..," said Rev. Andrew Lake, the vicar of All Saints who has recently completed his eight-year term of service here.

"... the church has both witnessed and participated in Indonesia's colorful and turbulent history."

Lake has immortalized that legacy in Changes & Chances, A Personal History of All Saints Jakarta, which was launched recently.

He said little had been written about the English-speaking community since the time of Raffles in the early 19th century.

"That's a pity, because there's always been English-speaking people here, they have always been part of the community," he said.

The history of the church dates back to 1819, as the London Missionary Society (LMS) began to work among the Chinese and British communities in Java.

For the first 15 years, the church was a simple bamboo chapel, with no exterior walls, only pillars of bricks and plaster.

Termites destroyed it all, and the bamboo house burned down. The present church building was built in 1831 in a tropical variation of the Georgian architectural style.

"It's similar to the old churches and old buildings in India, because it's built in the tropics," said the Australian, who obtained information about the church's history from the headquarters for the Anglican Church in Southeast Asia in Singapore, Singapore's Trinity College and Oxford University.

The missionaries packed up and went to China when the country began to open up to foreigners in 1843, and the church was sold to the British Protestant Community.

The building was extended, with an annex sanctuary and chancel to the original structure's nave and veranda. The aisles were also given the traditional Anglican cruciform pattern.

"The building was altered several times, but the basic structure is still the same. Inside, it's just like the church in the early days. All the same furniture, the same design..it hasn't been changed for 75 years inside."

Twenty years ago, the veranda was boarded up to reduce the noise and dust from the street.

Until 1950, the church was known as Engelsche Klerk (the English church) despite its classical building lines, characteristic of many Dutch buildings of old Batavia.

A month after Aug. 17, 1950, as the Republic Indonesia received full international recognition, the Church of the British Protestant Community changed its name to All Saints Church.

The new name was considered more appropriate to shed its British image, since the number of non-British people attending the church, especially Americans, was increasing.

"The church here is not exclusively for Anglicans. We welcome people to come along. The present Church Council includes members from Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist backgrounds," Lake said, adding there were Indonesian and English-speaking congregations.

The congregation is very international: Africans, Indians, Australians, Malaysian, Singaporean, Canadian, British, American, even sometimes French, Dutch, German, Swedish, and people from all over Indonesia.

The more diverse composition of the congregation today reflects the changing expatriate population over the years.

Through the turbulent years of independence in the late 1940s to early 1950s, there were only 150 British adult males living in Jakarta, while the British community outside the city was negligible. It explains why there was no record of services until 1953.

Amid tough economic times, and with little foreign presence in the country, the church struggled constantly to raise funds.

Considered a British institution, the church was also an obvious target for attack and seizure during the confrontation with Malaysia in the early 1960s.

In May 1964, all British estates in the country were confiscated by the government. Church attendance declined, including after the abortive communist coup in September 1965, and hit its nadir in 1966, with only nine people at a Sunday service.

But Sukarno's downfall and the rise of Soeharto's New Order regime brought a favorable environment for the international churches.

On July 29, 1974, however, one of the saddest incidents of the church's history occurred as Eric Constable, an Australian priest who had only been at All Saints for two weeks, was murdered.

The Soeharto regime, embarrassed by the incident, pursued it as a simple criminal case.

Twenty-six years later, however, Lake read a report that the murderer was outraged by the rapid growth of Christianity since Soeharto had taken power, and especially that Jakarta was to host the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1975 (it was moved to Nairobi).

Lake also identifies the May 1998 riots as important for its effect on the church, with the city crippled and the departure of many expatriates. It was followed by the Ketapang incident in November 1998, where 30 churches and Christian schools across the northern part of the city were attacked. Several churches were destroyed.

Soldiers were stationed on the front lawn of the church, and the compound had a military presence for the rest of the week.

The next outbreak of violence affecting the church was the Christmas bombing in 2000, when bombs exploded almost simultaneously in or outside churches in various towns on Christmas Eve.

Lake described it as follows: "At 8.30 p.m. one of the security guards at All Saints sighted a suspicious looking cabin bag in the front car park, leading the police to cordon off the front of the church and eventually remove the bag.

"There's terror everywhere, but when it occurs when people are worshiping God, because we strongly believe in a religion.. like the murder of a woman priest in Sulawesi recently, when she was in service.. What do you say, that's frightening, I think.

"But I don't want to make a big deal out of it, I don't want to play victim."

After living in Jakarta for eight years, Lake said that Indonesia was a model of religious tolerance.

"I think people have done a fantastic job. I found (the minority of religious fanatics) disturbing, not so much personally but just for the sake of Indonesian people."

Lake left for Australia recently, and has been replaced by D.A. Appleby.

The church remains as a sturdy presence, with a well-trimmed lawn and a gazebo in front of it, showing the resilience that has stood the test of time.