Fear of attacks at Christmas limits access to Mass
Indonesia’s Religious Affairs minister bans tents traditionally set up to temporarily accommodate extra worshippers. Officially, this is being done to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, but for many observers, the real reason is fear of terror attacks, like the one of 7 December, seen as a trial run ahead of the holidays.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – The Indonesian government plans to limit Christmas celebrations, including a ban on tents that are traditionally set up to allow worshippers to follow liturgical services when churches are full.
Unlike past years, when strict containment measures were imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, this year, churches and other places of worship can be at full capacity, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas announced, but “additional places under tents will be strictly prohibited" even if churches cannot accommodate all worshippers.
For the Catholic Church in Indonesia, Christmas and Easter are very important observances, and usually overstretch its capacity to organise Masses for tens of thousands of people with its limited resources (clergy and places of worship).
In some places, priests have to lead three or four celebrations, while worshippers have to patiently wait for a seat or stand for services that can last up to two or even three hours.
For this reason, in some churches, temporary structures are traditionally set up outside churches (pictured). But this was not the case in the past two years, nor for this year because of the decision taken by Minister Qoumas in consultation with police and security chiefs.
Officially, even this year’s restrictions are due to the ongoing pandemic; however, most Catholics are critical of the government’s decision, calling it “baseless” given that even China scrapped its zero-Covid policy and eased its restrictions (no mandatory testing and lockdowns).
Some people note that no pandemic-related limits or restrictions were imposed on the thousands of people who attended the wedding of President Jokowi's son Kaesang Pangarep nor on the huge crowds that gathered for that occasion.
As Christmas and New Year holidays approach, with consequent mass movements, the president has decided to raise the security level. Indeed, fear of attacks and violence is the real reason, not the pandemic, that the authorities are limiting gatherings, especially during services, mindful of events in the recent past.
In 2000 a bomb exploded on a roadside in Jakarta, targeting worshippers going to Christmas Eve Mass; bombs exploded at St Anne's Catholic Church and two Protestant places of worship in East Jakarta in 2011; another bomb exploded at a church in East Kalimantan in 2016.
More attacks were reported in May 2018 against church goers in Surabaya and Sidoarjo (East Java), while a suicide bomber struck the cathedral of Makassar in March 2021 during Palm Sunday services killing some worshippers.
Recently, tensions rose after another suicide bomber attacked a police station in Bandung on 7 December, killing an officer.
Various experts and analysts believe that this attack was a trial run ahead of a wider scale operation in and around Christmas.
For now, the authorities have not formally raised the alert level, but behind the scenes, they are worried, and have already deployed the country’s anti-terrorism unit, Densus 88, to deter any would-be terror group from carrying out attacks.
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26/07/2021 12:28
