Baptist Press, January 3, 2002
New Year's church bombings show Indonesia Christians still in
danger
By Mark Kelly
JAKARTA, Indonesia (BP)--Although troops prevented a threatened massacre of
Christian refugees in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, a series of church
bombings on New Year's Day proves extremist Muslim militias still pose a serious
danger to Christians in the province, even after a Dec. 20 peace accord was signed.
In Central Sulawesi's capital, Palu, midnight bombs exploded simultaneously at three
churches. A fourth exploded later in the day as worshippers gathered at another
church for a service.
Miraculously, no one was hurt in the midnight blasts and only two were injured, even
though about 200 worshippers were in one of the churches when the bombs went off.
One policeman was killed and another injured as they attempted to remove the fourth
bomb, which had been thrown through the church window by men on motorbikes.
"It was a miracle that no one in our church was killed," Yohanes Moniaga, pastor of
one of the churches bombed at midnight, told International Christian Concern, an
organization that monitors persecution of Christians around the world. "As the bomb
exploded, I saw people being lifted into the air. Immediately following the explosion,
no one left the church. We just called on the Lord and thanked Him for His
deliverance."
Before Christmas, the Laskar Jihad Muslim militia had threatened to attack as many
as 63,000 Christian refugees and residents in the city of Tentena. Thousands of militia
fighters armed with automatic weapons rampaged through Christian villages in Central
Sulawesi, burning churches and thousands of homes and sending residents fleeing.
A massacre was averted when the Indonesian government quickly sent about 4,500
soldiers to the predominantly Christian city. On Christmas Day, members of an elite
police unit from the Indonesian army's mobile brigade guarded churches in the city. In
some places, members of Muslim organizations helped police to safeguard churches.
Tens of thousands of Christian refugees, however, remain without shelter and basic
necessities.
On Dec. 20, Christian and Muslim groups signed a peace pact designed to end three
years of hostilities in the area. Militia members have been surrendering weapons and
police will begin a major disarmament effort later this month.
The 10-point peace accord, the fifth such agreement in recent years, promises to stop
all fighting, mediate disputes and reject outside interference, including the Laskar
Jihad. More than 50,000 people -- mostly Christians -- have been driven from their
homes by the fighting.
Since mid-2000 around 1,000 people have died in religious clashes in the province. Up
to five times that number have been killed in even worse Muslim- Christian violence in
neighboring Maluku in recent years. Central Sulawesi and Maluku are the only parts
of predominantly Muslim Indonesia to have roughly equal Christian and Muslim
populations.
On Christmas Eve 2000, 19 people died in attacks on churches in nine cities.
"The situation has remained calm," a missionary in Jakarta reported on Dec. 28. "We
do need to pray that the Laskar Jihad will be removed from the area and that the
Christians and Muslims of the Poso area will work together for peace. Some of the
Christians in the Napu area are still holding off returning home until they feel they will
be safe."
--30--
-- Encourage government officials to help stop violence against Christians in
Indonesia, by faxing US Secretary of State Colin Powell at 202-261-8577 and
Indonesia's Charge d' Affairs, T.A. Samodra Sriwidjaja, at 202-775-5365.
-- Contact your congressman with the "Find Your Reps" feature at http://congress.org.
-- Encourage media coverage of the atrocities in Indonesia by e-mailing
comments@foxnews.com and feedback@cnn.com. -- International Christian Concern
web site: www.persecution.org
-- Resources on persecuted Christians:
http://www.erlc.com/RLiberty/Persecution/persecution.htm
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