Indonesian delegates set to fly to Vatican

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Jayapura/Kupang

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah leaders are joining an Indonesian delegation sent by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that will leave for the Vatican on Tuesday to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

The delegation includes Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni, Jakarta Archbishop Julius Cardinal Darmaatmadja and Ahmad Syafii Maarif, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Muslim organization.

NU, the nation's largest Muslim organization, will be represented by Nazaruddin Umar, the secretary general of its syuria (law-making) body.

"(NU leader) Pak Hasyim Muzadi cannot join the delegation because he is sick and is now resting at his home in Malang (East Java)," Hasyim's personal secretary Ghozi Al-Fatih told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Freddy Numberi, who is a former ambassador to Italy, would also be among the delegates.

Alwi Shihab said here on Monday the delegation would directly convey the condolences of the Indonesian government and people to the Italian government and Catholics around the world.

Susilo announced the delegation before departing to Australia for a two-day official visit on Sunday.

Maftuh said the president had personally requested the Muslim leaders' inclusion in the delegation, which Maftuh said was an important gesture of solidarity between two important faiths.

"We hope the pope's funeral will build momentum for two of his causes, world peace and religious tolerance," Maftuh said after meeting Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Alwi.

"The Vice President has also expressed his deepest condolences on the passing of the pope," Alwi said.

Before leaving for the Vatican, Cardinal Darmaatmadja is set to lead a requiem mass at the Cathedral on Tuesday organized by the Holy See Embassy in Jakarta.

The embassy, located on Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur, is holding an open house and providing a book of condolences for Catholics and followers of other religions wanting to express their feelings on the pope's passing.

In Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, a predominantly Catholic province, some 50,000 people attended a requiem mass for the pope, which was presided over by local archbishop Mgr. Petrus Turang.

Petrus told the mass that the pope had persistently struggled to improve the welfare of the world's poor and other marginalized people and had constantly pushed for world peace.

In Jayapura, Papua, the Indonesian flag has been flying at half mast outside the Kristus Raja Dok V Cathedral since Saturday.

"It is the initiative of the mass and the cathedral leaders," Father Januaris Douw told the Post.

He said the pope had always spread a message of peace and love to all people regardless of race, religion or social status; an example that should be followed by all Catholics.

The cathedral would stage another requiem mass on Tuesday, Januaris said.

Thousands of spectators at a soccer match in Mandela Stadium in the city, including Papua Governor Jaap Salossa, observed one minute's silence on Monday to mourn the Sunday death of the Pope.