PGI demands equal protection for people of all religions

JAKARTA (JP): The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) demanded last week that the government make good of its repeated promise to give equal protection to people of all religions.

"We urge the government and security personnel to carry out their duty and ensure the rights for protection, for propriety and for religious freedom are held up in this country," the organization said in its assessment of 1998 in term of religious affairs.

The organization deplored the government's unfairness and reluctance to investigate the burning and destruction of worship places, including churches, and to punish those responsible for the crimes.

The assessment described how Christians and non-indigenous people were often victimized and turned into scapegoats for the current political and economic turmoil. "Never has any satisfactory and open explanation (for the destruction) been given by the government or the security apparatus," it said.

The assessment cited the burning of churches in Bekasi, West Java and in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and the terror suffered by some Christians in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta, last Christmas Eve. On this night, the congregation was threatened against attending Christmas services in church.

On Jan. 9, rioters damaged two churches in Karawang, West Java.

The PGI, which comprises 74 churches, announced last year that a total of 415 churches were attacked in the past two years, including 45 churches damaged since President B.J. Habibie came to power in May 1998.

The World Churches Council (WCC) ranked Indonesia last year as among the worst in the world in terms of religious intolerance and persecution.

According to the 1995 data of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Muslims make up 87.21 percent of the country's population, followed by Protestants (6.04 percent), Catholics (3.58 percent), Hindus (1.83 percent), and Buddhists (1.03 percent).

To many observers, 1998 was a very violent year in terms of religious co-existence. Churches were burnt and attacked by rioters, as were mosques and Muslim properties in some parts of the country. Often, however, officials and scholars put the blame for the tensions not on religious animosity but on political engineering by parties seeking to further their own interests.

Meanwhile, the Vatican has conveyed the Idul Fitri greeting to Muslims worldwide and expressed readiness to work together to develop a better world.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in his message to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan, said Christians and Muslims have a great field of collaboration which needs to be developed.

"The great feasts, such as Idul Fitri which you celebrate at the end of Ramadhan, are special times both for God and for humanity," he said in an undated statement.

"There exists, between our two religions, a considerable degree of agreement with regard to effectively showing mercy to one's neighbor," he pointed out. (prb)