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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