Lonesome in Bethlehem, living dangerously here

Lonesome in Bethlehem, living dangerously here

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta

A Bethlehem resident recently asked his Jakartan friends to
pray for peace in his city, while his friends here worried
whether it would be safe to go to church to celebrate Christmas.
While the Palestinian friend hoped that more tourists would come
to his city so he could feed his family, his friends in Jakarta
could only hope there would be no repeat of the Christmas Eve
bombings of 2000.

Police in Indonesia have promised to deploy officers to guard
holiday celebrations throughout the country, and hopefully the
terrorists or those who want to disrupt the celebrations will
allow their compatriots to carry out their religious duties in
peace.

But why should citizens require massive police protection just
to exercise their freedom of religion as guaranteed in the
Constitution? It is ridiculous that going to church has become a
luxury.

Yousef Mansour, our tour bus driver during our pilgrimage to
the Holy Land in October, sent me and some other friends a
Christmas greeting last week. In the letter, he said he and his
family had to move to Jerusalem in November because life was
becoming too difficult in Bethlehem.

"Please pray for peace in Bethlehem," Yousef, a Christian
Palestinian, wrote in the letter. He was extremely helpful during
our tour, especially assisting a wheelchair-bound pilgrim during
our stay.

Although a minority in the predominantly Muslim Palestine,
Yousef said he never had trouble with his Muslim compatriots.
Christmas is a national celebration there, and Christians and
Muslims visit each other on Christmas and Idul Fitri.

Bethlehem, about 11 kilometers from Jerusalem, is where,
according to the Bible, the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus
Christ. The Israeli military has erected 10 checkpoints and 78
physical obstructions around the town. According to a recent
United Nations report, only 7,249 tourists visited the
Palestinian city this year, compared to more than one million in
2000 before the intifida erupted in September of that year. Two
years later Israeli troops besieged the Church of the Nativity
when hundreds of Palestinians sought refuge there.

Yousef is expecting a prayer from his Indonesian friends that
peace will return to his city, which would mean more tourists for
the tourism-dependent city. Maybe the world's prayers, especially
from the United States and Israel, will help Yousef and all
Palestinians regain their sovereign rights.

Indonesia has suffered mightily over the last six years from
so many different kinds of problems, including religious
conflict. Muslims and Christians butchered each other in Maluku
for years. While the situation there is improving, the desire to
kill each other has not completely subsided and outsiders still
hope to provoke violence there.

Many Christians have been killed in Poso, Central Sulawesi,
and violence there continues as outsiders stir hatred between
Christians and Muslims in the province. It is also difficult for
many Papuans to celebrate Christmas because of economic hardship
and the sharp increase in the number of Papuans living with
HIV/AIDS.

Muslims in war-torn Aceh are still not able to liberate
themselves from the oppression of their own government, which
thinks bullets and the problematic Scorpion tanks alone can force
the Acehnese people to stop demanding the restoration of their
human rights and the return of missing relatives and friends.

It is wrong to assume that Christians here have become the
innocent victims of Muslims, who form the majority of the nation.
The entire nation is suffering from severe and prolonged economic
hardship, and poverty, hunger and even starvation have become
constant companions in the country.

However, a recent poll indicated that Muslims have become more
intolerant of their Christian neighbors. If this tendency is in
fact true, the root of the problem must be found. Simply
portraying Muslims as intolerant based on a poll is ridiculous.
We should not make hasty conclusions, although we also shouldn't
just deny it without trying to understand whatever truths the
poll communicates.

Islam also tends to be portrayed in the West as tolerant of
terrorism. Islam has nothing to do with the increasing number of
terrorist acts, although many of the terrorists happen to be
Muslims. Can Christians claim that none of their followers have
ever committed acts of terrorism?

On Christmas Eve, millions of Christians will go to churches
across the country to celebrate the birth of Christ, who they
believe is the savior of the world. Worshipers at St. Joseph's
Church in Matraman, East Jakarta, hope no bombs explode, as
happened four years ago. Worshipers at St. Anna Church, which was
bombed two years ago, hopefully will be able to enjoy a peaceful
service.

We hope Malaysian terror suspect Azahari, who is still at
large, will stop killing people. Why should he bomb people who
celebrate the birth of Christ, who is also recognized in Islam as
a great prophet, although not as the son of God? And by the way,
why doesn't he just go back to his own country?

Only time will tell whether Christmas this year will be
peaceful. We can only hope that no horrifying pictures of carnage
and death will be broadcast on TV stations, as happened four
years ago.

The author is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post. He can be
reached at purba@thejakartapost.com

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