RI ranks world's worst for religious disharmony

RI ranks world's worst for religious disharmony

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has been rated the worst in the world
in terms of religious intolerance and persecution, the Indonesian
Church Community (PGI) executives announced Wednesday.

The community's chairman Soelarso Sopater and Secretary-
General J.M. Pattiasina briefed the media on Wednesday about the
results of the recent World Churches Council (WCC) congress in
Harare, Zimbabwe.

Along with council central committee member Natan Setiabudi
and head of the PGI Research and Development division Karel Phil
Erari, the church leaders expressed concern over what they said
was political oppression of religious minorities.

The congress in Harare issued two recommendations: the status
of Jerusalem should remain that of a shared city for all
religions, and its stance on human rights, in which Indonesia was
listed among countries such as Sudan, India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh with strong religious intolerance phenomena.

The congress, held in conjunction with its 50th anniversary,
was attended by South African President Nelson Mandela and
President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe.

"Indonesia became the central topic in the WCC congress based
on indicators such as the fact that the government cannot do
anything in handling matters arising and that they just let
things happen," Pattiasina said.

"And we believe that on the basis of the pattern of riots such
as in Ketapang (West Jakarta), Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara),
Ujungpandang (South Sulawesi) and most recently Bekasi on the
outskirts of Jakarta we are looking at well organized crimes.

"The attacks against churches are not symptomatic of religious
conflicts. They are politically engineered and there are some
parties within the government who are involved... this makes it
harder to enforce the law and uphold the truth," he said.

According to the PGI report in the Harare congress, 516
churches here were attacked in the past 32 years. A total of 415
of these were attacked in the past two years.

"The last figure includes 45 churches damaged during the 180
days of President B.J. Habibie's term over the past seven
months," Karel said.

PGI -- comprising 74 churches in the country -- also called
for political and security measures by the government which would
better protect the Christian minority.

Muslims make up 87 percent of the 202 million population here,
while the rest are Protestants, Catholics, Buddhists and Hindhu
believers.

"We do not have social and political power here. That is why
we are easily made scapegoats and victimized," Natan Setiabudi
said.

The Asia Church Council and PGI will meet in a pastoral
session with the government in January to further discuss the
issue of human rights protection here.

The world congress in Harare also discussed and expressed
concern over rapes during the May riots in Jakarta and other
cities, and military atrocities in Aceh, East Timor and Irian
Jaya provinces.

"And the church specifically urged reconciliation among
Irianese people. We will try to socialize this through the
churches," Pattiasina said.

Council

During the media briefing, the PGI also explained its stance
on the Council for Enforcement of Security and Law, which will
convene for the first time Wednesday morning. Habibie will chair
the event.

The National Commission on Human Rights and the Indonesian
Bishops Council (KWI) have both refused to join the council,
which is aimed at controlling and coordinating efforts to resolve
the crisis threatening national stability.

"We join the council because we want to receive first hand
information. We do not want to remain passive.

"We are the minority who receive the impact of all these
problems in security and law enforcement. Of course, we want to
make sure that the government does something real," Sopater said.
"However, if we felt the council's decisions were not suitable,
we would quit."

"Much of the recent chaos must be solved by good political
decisions," he said. (edt)