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May 30, 2000
Dear Friends and family,
Once again we’re on the verge of a departure and want to
drop a note to you all about our life in Indonesia and our plans.
Tomorrow Farsijana and I fly to Berkeley for two and a half short
weeks to see my mother, who is now almost 88 years old, and my
kids, who are experiencing various transitions. Jen Marion is
planning to go to Africa in connection with the wildlife research
of her Swiss boyfriend. She is also applying to grad school in
wildlife biology. Rina and Glenn just had their second baby ("just"
= several months ago!). My mother is living with them, so they
have three to care for: Gramma, David and Isobel. Peter is singing
in an opera (Carmen) and graduating from UC Santa Cruz (June 10).
It should be an exciting visit. We return June 18 and will be
back in Yogyakarta on June 20, 2000. So it is a short visit for
traveling so far. But it feels really necessary. So much is happening
in the life of our family and it is hard to be so far away.
We feel a lot of stress about the situation in Indonesia. Each
day we receive new reports of violence, many of which never make
it into the Indonesian press, much less the Western press. There
seems to be a systematic attempt to create chaos in the country.
The most distressing part of it is the flagrant use of religion
and ethnicity to create violent conflict. For example, in central
Sulawesi (Poso), repeated attacks on the Christian community in
April led to the virtual exclusion of Christians from the main
cities. Now the Christians have retaliated with a well-organized
attack on the main city of Poso, with the result that almost all
of Poso is now in Christian hands and the Muslims have lost their
homes. The next step will be a jihad in Poso, spreading down to
Ujung Pandang, unless the grace of God intervenes.
Meanwhile, fighting continues in Halmahera. Muslim "Laskar
Jihad" repeatedly attack Northern Halmaheran villages. The
attacks are founded on both vengeance and the desire to recover
their lands that are in the hands of Christians. Most of Northern
Halmahera (which was majority Muslim), is now controlled by Christians.
Last week an early-morning Muslim attack on a Christian village
resulted in "reportedly 34 dead." But usually "reported"
death tolls are under the actual figures. They only count the
bodies "in the morgue," so to speak.
The fighting also continues in Ambon where, with thousands of
Jihad warriors, the situation has returned to a state of seige
and mutual slaughter. Notwithstanding hysterical appeals for help
from both sides, which portray themselves as helpless victims
close to annihilation, the conflict is fueled by aggressive, murderous
attacks from both sides. There are also military and police units
that sometimes fight each other because they are no longer neutral.
Nevertheless some elements of the military are neutral and reportedly
hundreds of Muslim jihad warriors have been mown down by the military,
which forbids attacks by either side. All kinds of rumors abound
and conspiracy theories are part of the daily fare.
It is reasonably certain that many more Muslims have been killed
in Molluccu than Christians. But Christians are sure that the
primary aggressors are the Muslims and that they are under serious
threat. We are in telephone contact with both Muslims and Christians
in the Molluccus. Farsijana has many family members in Ambon and
the surrounding islands.
Meanwhile, two days ago, two churches in the large city of Medan
were bombed during worship services there, with many seriously
injured. Someone is hoping the Christians will retaliate and Medan
(North Sumatera), which, like Ambon, is 50-50% Christian-Muslim,
will also fall into the chaos of religious warfare. The Gus Dur
government appears to be trying hard to stem the violence, but
some very powerful people, connected to the Soeharto government
and to the military, seem willing to sacrifice any number of lives
in order to divert attention from the prosecution of corruption
and criminal activities by the ancien regime.
So far things are still peaceful in Yogyakarta. Our lives have
been very full and fulfilling, in spite of our ongoing grief at
what is happening in this beloved country. This month I led a
worship and presented a paper at a conference for Molluccan Christian
intellectuals from all over Indonesia. I also participated with
Muslim intellectuals in a conference sponsored by Christians on
the church and civil society in Indonesia. Then I preached on
racism and democracy in our university chapel and finished a draft
of the catalog for our graduate program. We had a two-day working
retreat to discuss various policy decisions connected to the catalog.
For the past few days I have been trying to wrangle an interview
with Gus Dur, but so far only came close. Please pray that this
opportunity may come about after we return to Indonesia.
Farsijana has also been participating in various conferences
and collecting material about the situation in Molluccu. Our house
is piled high with articles and newspaper clippings! The national
discourse on the conflict in the Molluccus is a fascinating study
in itself. How do we explain and give meaning to a tragedy of
such magnitude? It reminds me of the American civil war. But the
outcome is still very much in the air. In spite of it all, I am
still optimistic about the future. The great majority of Indonesians—of
all religions—want to live in peace with one another and
do not trust the strident voices that stir up hatred and fear.
These demonic voices (sadly, including some Christians), paint
a black-and-white picture of good guys versus bad guys, us versus
them. And we all know from the popular kung fu movies that the
thing you do with the bad guys is wipe them out. Please send up
a little prayer (or fervently pray all night, if you like) for
us in Indonesia, and especially for President Abdurrahman Wahid
(Gus Dur). Don’t worry about our safety. I think it’s
still safer in Yogya than in most American cities. We are surrounded
by people who love us.
Warm regards from us both,
Bernard and Farsijana (Nona) Adeney-Risakotta
The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 154
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