Brotherhood between Christians and Muslims reborn in post-tsunami Aceh
Jakarta (AsiaNews/UCAN) The Foundation for the Nation Association, an association set up by Protestant and Catholic groups to deal with social and educational issues, organised a seminar in Jakarta on post-tsunami aid. Religious and lay speakers alike participated, including Hasballah M. Saad, Indonesia's former minister for human rights.
Mr Saad said that the reconstruction effort after December 26 has united the people of the province. He denied allegations that locals refused assistance from Christian groups.
"The issue was intentionally created by certain groups to isolate and to make the Acehnese suffer more," he said. "It is wrong to say that we are against other groups," he added.
Muslims represent about 99 per cent of Aceh's population and live in the only Indonesian province where Sharia has been officially adopted (Law Nº 18, 2001) as the basic law.
However, Mr Saad stressed that the province's pluralistic and tolerant nature did not change. As evidence he noted that "the old Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Church still stands firmly besides Baituhrahman Mosque on the coast of Perak, Banda Aceh. Thus, it is illogical to say that Acehnese refuse the pluralistic reality that historically existed in Aceh."
Recalling his own role during the events of December 26, he said that "just after the disaster struck, Divine Word Father Eman Embu of Maumere, Flores, who was serving in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, came to pick me up with his car. Together we visited several locations [. . .] destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami".
Father Ignatius Sandyawan Sumardi, executive secretary of the Voluntary Team for Humanity, spoke after the minister. He said: "We helped victims regardless of their background, based on truth and justice."
He added that people of various religions staffed the team and explained he himself saw the solidarity born of the tragedy. "
"During our team meeting held in Jakarta one day after the disaster, we decided to deliver relief aid collected by our volunteers to the people in isolated areas of Aceh Jaya, Melabo, Sikil, Tapak Tenol, and surrounding areas in West Aceh," he said.
Father Sumardi further noted that his group of volunteers was able to leave for Aceh on December 28, only two days after the disaster, thanks to the funds raised among the poor living in Bukit Duri, a slum built along the shores of the Ciliwung River.
Despite their extreme poverty, the residents "spontaneously collected about a thousand rupiahs per person. In some neighbourhoods up to 700,000 rupiahs were raised; in others, 600,000; and in others, 500,000."
"Besides collecting money, the people of Bukit Duri spent three weeks packing relief materials collected by volunteers to be sent to Aceh," he recalled.
According to the Jesuit priest, his team collected 2 billion rupiahs and distributed 200 tons of food, clothes and medicine in isolated areas, relying for transport on helicopters, planes and warships of the Indonesian navy.
Sujana Royat, of the Indonesian National Development Planning Agency, said the Acehnese would not refuse humanitarian relief aid because all human beings share the same humanitarian value of caring for others who are suffering.
The government, he promised, would strive to insure that all relief goods reach their intended destinations.
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14/01/2005
