GAMKI Files Police Report Against JK, Who Denies Insulting Christian Teachings in UGM Speech

Former Vice Presidents of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, through his spokesperson Husain Abdullah, has denied insulting Christian teachings as alleged in a police report filed by the Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Christian Youth Movement (DPP GAMKI) and several other organisations.

DPP GAMKI, along with various Christian institutions and other community organisations, deemed Kalla’s statements during a lecture at UGM some time ago, which touched on the Poso and Ambon conflicts, to be controversial.

Husain clarified the viral video post circulating on social media, which he said lacked context. The video in question contained Kalla’s remarks referring to both sides in the Poso and Ambon conflicts using the term ‘dying as martyrs’.

“Upon investigation, the accusation stems from context cutting. We firmly deny the allegation,” Husain stated when confirmed via written message on Sunday (12/4) evening.

Husain explained that Kalla’s statement, delivered during a speech at the UGM Campus Mosque in Yogyakarta on Thursday (5/3), emphasised that no religion in the world teaches its followers to kill one another.

Husain then elaborated that at the time, Kalla was describing his contributions to reconciling the Poso and Ambon conflicts during the turn of the 1990s to 2000s.

“Kalla described his efforts to reconcile the Poso and Ambon conflicts to the UGM academic community. He first corrected the beliefs of the two conflicting groups, Muslims and Christians, that they had erred in using religious jargon as justification, leading to thousands of lives lost on both sides and making the conflict difficult to stop,” he explained.

During the conflicts, Husain clarified, both groups called for ‘holy war’ and claimed that killing the opposing side or dying in battle would lead to paradise.

Husain stressed that this is historical fact.

“It was this misguided view of both sides that Mr Kalla first corrected, stating that no religion permits killing one another. This was conveyed to the war commanders at the time,” he said.

Husain stated that both conflicting parties had crossed the bounds of humanity, killing children, women, and the elderly. Such actions clearly violated the values of love and compassion.

Husain continued that the Poso and Ambon conflicts, which occurred 27 years ago, were successfully reconciled by Kalla as mediator through the Malino I Negotiations for Poso in 2001 and the Malino II Negotiations for the Ambon Conflict in 2002.

At that time, he said, Kalla, serving as Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare (Menko Kesra), involved Islamic and Christian religious leaders, field commanders from both conflicting sides, community figures from both parties, and the government in mediation.

“That is why Mr Kalla had to correct their misguided understanding. This historical fact can be confirmed with the surviving figures from the peace negotiations for both Poso and Ambon,” he said.

Previously, GAMKI, along with the Advisory Council of the Indonesian Christian Community Assembly (MUKI), the Indonesian Pastors Association (API), the Pluralism Community Struggle Movement, the Central Executive Board of Si Pitung, and the Central Executive Board of Horas Bangso Batak, reported Kalla to the police over his statements regarding the Poso and Ambon conflicts.

In their statement, DPP GAMKI quoted Kalla’s controversial remarks. The statements referenced the conflicts in Poso and Ambon in the early 2000s. They took issue with Kalla’s use of the phrase ‘martyrdom’ in relation to the conflicts involving religion, including in Poso and Ambon.

DPP GAMKI General Chairman Sahat Sinurat stated that they also strongly condemned Kalla’s remarks, which they deemed hurtful to Christians and disruptive to society.

Sahat stated that Christianity does not teach killing those of different faiths to enter paradise. On the contrary, he added, Christianity teaches loving fellow humans, even enemies.

The Poso conflict in Central Sulawesi occurred around 1998-2001. The communal riots were often viewed as religiously tinged. However, the root causes were said to involve economic inequalities, local political rivalries, and the impacts of transmigration programmes that altered the region’s demographics.

In 2001, Kalla, then serving as Menko Kesra in President Megawati Soekarnoputri’s cabinet, led the mediation process in Malino, South Sulawesi. As a Sulawesi figure, Kalla successfully pushed for the Malino I Declaration after gathering conflicting Islamic and Christian leaders to agree on peace.

Meanwhile, the Ambon conflict was a communal riot that began from an individual dispute and quickly escalated into a religiously tinged storm in Maluku province around 1999 to 2002.

Kalla, then Menko Kesra, gathered Islamic and Christian leaders from Ambon for mediation in Malino. The result was the peace agreement or Malino II Declaration on 12 February 2002.