Sularso Sopater re-elected PGI chief

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) Rev. Sularso Sopater was re-elected for another five year term in a grand assembly that ended in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, Sunday night.

The electoral board led by Rev. I.W. Mastra, also re-elected Pattiasina as Secretary General, Rev. Weinata Sairin as vice secretary general and Endang Wilandari Supardan as vice treasurer, while Ichsan K. Gunawan was chosen as the new treasurer.

The new Advisory Board consists of Radius Prawiro as chairman, Rev. Eka Dharmaputera as vice chairman, Y. Patadungan as secretary and Barnabas Suebu and J.E. Sahetapy as members.

The electoral board also elected new members of the working committee, which currently consists of representatives from 65 out of PGI's 67 member churches.

According to the Suara Pembaruan daily, two churches were considered ineligible because one church was absent and the other was still ridden with internal problems.

The assembly, which opened on Oct. 21 also approved the membership of the Indonesian Protestant Church (GPI) within PGI, making it the second officially-recognized church in Irian Jaya aside from the already existing Evangelistic Christian Church (GKI).

Not responsive

Addressing the assembly, Arif Gosita -- a member of PGI's working group on legal affairs -- said that many churches in Indonesia were still not responsive to the sufferings of victims of physical and criminal abuses.

He pointed out that currently churches were putting more emphasis on serving criminals and convicts in prisons but they often forgot the victims of the crimes, Antara reported.

Victims of rape, for example, should be given more attention because their experience often became traumatic.

"There is little, if any, attention from churches to these victims, because churches tend to see the problem from one side, which from the point of trying to rehabilitate the morals of the criminals through religious actions," he said.

Victims, he added, had all the right to receive services such as these from the church.

Gosita said that churches needed to open an agency in charge of assisting victims of criminal and physical abuse. The idea for such an agency -- and even a 24-hour hot-line service -- has already been previously proposed during the assembly.

"Its about time PGI and its member churches opened such services," he said. (pwn)