Falungong members gather in Jakarta to share experiences

Falungong members gather in Jakarta to share experiences

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some 700 members of the Falungong international spiritual
movement from 10 countries are gathering here for their second
conference, a forum for them to share their experiences.

During the conference's opening session on Saturday, the
participants listened to testimony from their counterparts from
the movement's place of origin in China.

The Chinese authorities have banned the Falungong organization
and arrested many of its followers.

However, Joko Buntar, who chairs the Indonesian Falun Gong
Association, asserted that the conference was not aimed at
approving a stand to be taken in response to what was happening
to members of the group in China.

"The conference has nothing to do with politics. What we are
doing during the conference is sharing our experiences in
studying and in practicing Falungong," Joko told The Jakarta Post
on the sidelines of the conference, which runs through Sunday.

Titled "Indonesia Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference",
the meeting is the second after the first was held last year. The
international organization was established in 1996.

The main teachings of Falungong, which was introduced to the
world in 1992 by Li Hongzhi, comprise truth, compassion and
patience.

Members of Falungong are encouraged to uphold morality in
every aspect of their lives. They practice meditation as a way to
achieve moral virtue.

Apart from Indonesian members, the conference is being
attended by foreign members from many countries, including China,
the United States, Hong Kong and Australia, and from various
ethnic backgrounds.

Head of the city administration's National Unity Office
Effendy Annas officially opened the conference.

Joko claimed that in Indonesia alone, the number of Falun Gong
members had reached 3,000, while the movement had millions of
members worldwide.

Yoseph Agus, a member of Falungong in Indonesia, said that
pursuing self-restraint was his main goal in joining the
movement.

"Meditation has kept me healthy. I've never suffered from
migraine since I started practicing Falungong in May 2001," he
said.

The number of Falungong members in China have increased so
rapidly that the government there fears the membership of the
group could exceed that of the ruling Communist party.

Several Chinese attendees told the conference about the
repressive measures their government had taken against them.

Lily Tung said that she was tortured by Chinese security
officials last year after she refused to renounce her Falun Gong
membership.

The 31-year-old woman, who claimed to be nearly crippled in
both her legs after the torture, said that the level of
repression had reached an alarming level.

"My case was one among thousands of other gross violations of
human rights cases in China," she asserted.

She said that what they were doing was merely practicing Falun
Gong, which had nothing to do with politics.

"Therefore, we demand that the Chinese government release the
200,000 of our fellow practitioners who remain in Chinese
government detention, and that they stop the torture and killing
of Falungong members," she said.