For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting live. - John 3:16

THE IMAGE

A Christian Rethinks Islamic TerrorismBy Handri Timbuleng

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Handri Timbuleng
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-4438-1

Contents

Acknowledgements...............................................viiPreface........................................................xvThe Image......................................................1Bleeding Ambon ................................................5Violence Against Chinese ......................................7Indonesian Government Issues ..................................9Religious Diversification in Indonesia.........................11Muslims Arrive in Indonesia....................................15The Indonesian Government......................................17Indonesia and the Global Economy...............................19A Bit of My Own Story..........................................23A Changed Perspective..........................................27A Cracked Wall Portrait → the Image.......................29

Chapter One

THE IMAGE

I must begin this book with a word about my bitter experience: It happened in the area of Bumi Serpong Damai where I lived at that time, because it was a new real estate residential area. There were not many Christians and hence not many denominations of Christians were represented. I proposed to make a fellowship for Christian people which could be accepted by many denominational groups so that we did not need to travel far to worship the LORD. The existing governmental regulations necessitated the development of a church in that area that was ecumenical in nature because there were not enough people from any one denomination to form a church on its own. Hence the Gereja Kristen Oikumene (GKO)—Ecumenical Christian Church was formed. This name means it was not attached to one denomination either in terms of the worship service style or the person who was the pastor leading any particular service. The church remained flexible, while waiting for the arrival of new people that could meet the criteria and offer the financial stability of certain denominations so that the various members of the GKO could separate themselves and stand on their own. This temporary church (GKO) served to nurture mutually good relationships amongst the various denominations. This set the stage for the future to create a harmonized relationship between the different denominations that exist. It is important to remember that humans can only provide an openness to this kind of relationship, but the Lord is the one who offers the real unity.

Now as I continue to share with you my story, I must tell you that remembering what happened brings tears to my eyes that I do not have the power to stop, so deep is the anguish in my memory. It is as though my heart is being sliced with a knife each time I recall how I watched the front yard of the church turned into white like snow, as our church was attacked by Muslim neighbors and were ripped out our Bible from Genesis through Revelation and thrown to the ground. The covers of the New Testament and the Old Testament were thrown into a sewer that was in front of the church. The church building itself which had just been completed through hard work and prayer and fasting, was also destroyed.

Each time December approaches, my heart breaks and tears fill my eyes. I remember the humiliation and mockery and my inability to reply to such violence that destroyed the dignity and pride of the Christian people I served. I have always felt proud of my Christian faith and expressed this by placing the bible itself in a special place. The tearing of the Bible pages in front of me and the people I served, tore at my heart. Even more painful was the fact that the security officers whose responsibility it was to protect us, stood idly by with a look in their eyes that said, "Nothing will protect or defend you."

The ache of our hearts was multiplied as we watched our attackers break our musical keyboard into two pieces. The building itself was dismantled, the front being torn down, and three roof tiles removed one by one and thrown until each was broken into pieces. The window glass on the front wall was shattered.

To be honest, I felt as though I was no longer in the country of my birth because there was not compensation or defense, even though I tried to report this violence to the authorities. I was told it was a crowd action and there was nothing that could be done.

We held a Christmas service on December 25TH on the piles of the remaining building of our church. Heavy rains soaked the earth as well as our Christmas outfits, for there was no longer any roof that could protect us from the rain. I personally could not tell if it was the rain or my tears that soaked my outfit. Our singing of Christmas carols like "Silent Night" eased my sadness a bit and lessened the million questions carried by my congregation—"Why is this happening? Where is God?" As a leader I could not answer at the moment because those same questions arose in my own heart. "How could they do this to us? Why would they do this to us?" I realized that life is too short to hold onto my hurt. I had to forgive. I was not the only one that experienced such discrimination. There are still so many events that are more brutal and harder to forgive and certainly hard to forget.

BLEEDING AMBON ...

I have a sample story taken from the city of Ambon in Indonesia. The name of the event has come to be known as "Bleeding Ambon". This particular story is very impressive as it shares about the courage and obedience of a student in a Sunday school. This student was in a church that was attacked by Muslim rioters. One rioter called this child out in front of his class and ordered him to renounce Jesus. The child refused to renounce Jesus and thus his arms and legs were amputated one by one. The child bled to death, but did not deny Jesus.

It is important to know that "Bleeding Ambon" was not about religion, but more about a certain political agenda that was trying to replace the current president of thirty-three years.

For some time there were those who strategized about this goal of removing the president. The real victim in this matter was religion and how it was used to separate the Indonesian people from each other. A deeper analysis of the situation reveals that there were some who were interested in provoking discord in the country so that the current government would be destabilized. This was done by introducing conflict in the name of religion. This involved spreading lies to Muslims and Christians about each other's religion.

Violence Against Chinese ...

There is another occurrence of violence that may help the reader to understand the situation in Indonesia. It involves the raping of Chinese ethnic women. Due to the success of Chinese ethnics, who are known for their hard work ethic, their "fighting spirit and their "never give up" attitude, a social jealousy developed among other Indonesians. Almost every line of the economy was controlled by Chinese ethnics such that they represented four percent of the total population yet controlled almost 80% of the existing businesses. Even though there was a depressing economic situation at that time, the Chinese ethnics would drive fancy new cars while so many others around them lived under bamboo roofs and some even along the dirty riverside. This practice of flaunting their material success caused a high level of conflict.

Other issues of injustice also existed, such as when a group called Pribumi (local native...