Christians in Indonesia are expressing concerns regarding numerous attacks on churches and other signs of religious intolerance.
Theophilus Bela, president of the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, and secretary general of the Indonesian Committee of Religions for Peace, met with Maria Otero, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs to discuss these issues.
Bela, a Catholic representative from the committee of religions for peace, told L’Osservatore Romano that he submitted a detailed report for the U.S. government officials.
“In the report, I denounced all the cases of churches damaged by attacks, closed, or whose permissions were revoked to carry out their religious functions,” he said. “In addition I described the difficulties met in the construction of new buildings for worship.”
Bela explained that he hopes U.S. government officials will intervene and visit Indonesia to “help to improve relations between the religious communities.”
The tension has been concentrated mainly in the West Java province. Vatican Radio reported May 29 on the words of a prelate from that region, Bishop Johannes Maria Trilaksyanta Pujasumarta of Bandung.
“We wish to live and to contribute to protect social harmony and harmony between the religions,” the bishop affirmed. “But we are well aware that Indonesia has a constitution that recognizes our rights and that all must be respected, even Muslim extremist groups.”
He noted that there are two ministerial decrees in force, asking the provincial authorities to guarantee harmony between the religious communities. However, the prelate added that “many authorities are easy targets of the pressures of fundamentalist groups and bend to their will, accepting their requests.”
JAKARTA, Indonesia, JUNE 7, 2010 (Zenit.org)