Father Sandyawan
In response to Mr. Sunarto's letter of Sept. 18 on Father Sandyawan and his elder brother Benny Sumardi, I would like to comment as follows.
Mr. Sunarto says that giving help to somebody has to be done in the right and proper way. So, in his opinion, the priest and his brother should have advised Budiman Sudjatmiko and his friends to give themselves up to the authorities, and should not have protected and hidden them.
He further says that, whatever reason Father Sandyawan and Benny Sumardi had for their deed, they "violated the law". Is this right? If by "law" is meant the regulations made by a man (who is not perfect), it may be right or not right. According to article 221 of the penal code (made by the suppressive colonials but still in force) a person is threatened with nine months in jail if he/she hides a fugitive from the police. However, article 332 of the same code says that whoever intentionally divulges a secret, which he/she should keep obligatorily for reasons of function (including in this case religious men) or livelihood, he/she is threatened with nine months in prison. If Father Sandyawan was a penal code expert, he would be confused by the above articles.
In my opinion, Father Sandyawan's deed was noble and was how a religious, and at the same time faithful, man (remember that a religious man is not always faithful) should have acted. His action to help fellow human beings who were anxious, afraid and uncertain is not a sin before God. His deed involved the risk that he could be blamed, deemed a criminal, threatened with a penalty by the authorities (or considered "not proper to be done", according to Mr. Sunarto). Does it not show, on the contrary, that Father Sandyawan is a compassionate man who loftily upholds equitable and civilized human values?
Human laws, regulations, propriety and truth are only relative as they become obsolete quickly and are transitory. Man has been blessed by God with an eternal and veritable truth in himself, i.e. his conscience or voice of the heart. To apply veritable truth to fellow human beings is not solely by considering man- made laws because these do not guarantee the real truth. Amid the frequent incidence of incongruity between some of our leaders' words and deeds, Father Sandyawan's action should deservedly serve as an example and an input for those people who are not loyal enough to listen to the voice of their hearts, the voice that carries eternal truth in one's life.
B. AJIE KAWENTAR
Jakarta