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)