More than 100 Batak reverends face dismissal
More than 100 Batak reverends face dismissal
JAKARTA (JP): The military-backed chief of the Toba Batak
Protestant Church (HKBP) threatened yesterday to fire over 100
reverends and excommunicate thousands of church members who
challenge his leadership.
Bishop P.W.T. Simanjuntak said he may have to take such harsh
action in a last ditch effort to end the three-year-old
leadership rift plaguing the North Sumatra-based church.
"If the dissident reverends and church members defy our call
for repentance, we will have no choice other than to expel them,"
Simanjuntak said in a press conference.
The church, Indonesia's largest with an estimated three
million members across the country, has been split into two
opposing camps since 1992 when it failed to elect a new chief to
replace bishop S.A.E. Nababan.
The crisis often sparked physical clashes among the rival
camps, which invoked government intervention. A military-
sponsored extraordinary grand synod held in 1993, which was
opposed by the Nababan camp, elected Simanjuntak to lead the
church until 1999.
Nababan's supporters have fiercely stuck by their demand that
the election be repeated. They still recognize Nababan as the
legitimate head of the church.
More than a dozen people have reportedly been killed and
countless injured in numerous clashes between the opposing hot-
blooded Bataks, mostly in North Sumatra, Jakarta and West Java.
Simanjuntak said that he saw no indication that the rift would
abate despite the numerous efforts by the government and church
activists to put an end to it.
The church also formed a team last year to speed up the
reconciliation of the rival groups but the results are yet to be
announced.
Radja L.D.L. Sitorus, chairman of the reconciliation team,
conceded yesterday that he was pessimistic that peace would come
in the foreseeable future.
"The team has time and again invited the rival groups to
discuss the problem in both Jakarta and Medan, but there has been
no response," he said.
HKBP Secretary-General S.M. Siahaan, who was also on hand at
yesterday's press meeting, said that, given the sensitive nature
of the issue, the church would take "extra-careful"
considerations before deciding to carry out punishment against
dissident reverends and church members.
"We won't hastily take action. We will hear suggestions from
local church leaders and from the reconciliatory team," he said.
Simanjuntak said that Nababan has quit HKBP at his own free
will by setting up a group called "Faithful to the End" together
with his supporters.
Simanjuntak also attacked the Indonesian Community of Churches
and the World Council of Churches for lending support to Nababan
and "meddling" in HKBP's internal matters.
"No other party has the authority to meddle in the church's
internal affairs, although they can offer suggestions on how to
solve problems," he said.
Simanjuntak said some 500 HKBP reverends will start a five-day
meeting here tomorrow to discuss the church's working programs.
Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher and Minister of Home
Affairs Moch. Yogie S. M. are scheduled to address the gathering.
(rms)