|
Not more than one 200 meters from our
house, there are more than two ruko (shop houses) that for as long as I
can remember have been used as places of worship every Sunday. During
walks with my children in the morning or while wandering alone looking
for daily needs in the nearby minimarts, we can spot our Christian
neighbors going to their simple places of worship.
Thank God, so
far, the availability of these “temporary churches” has not incited any
violence. In fact, we know that in the housing complex where the rukos
are situated, there are some hard-line Islamic organizations, which
allegedly often provoke mass attacks on unofficial non-Muslim places of
worship.
Many assume
that the “temporary churches” will be safe as long as they are just as
they are now.
Even some
hard-liners whom I know well pay less attention to the ruko churches than
to their wish to radicalize mainstream Muslims with focused religious
services often called liqa.
However, the
situation raises the question, “Will those Christians perform their
prayers that way forever as it is too difficult to just get a building
permit?”
Amid the
smokescreen of legalities and political expediency, we also should ask
another question, “Will the peace we have been so far enjoying last amid
the ebb and flow of Muslim and non-Muslim
relationships?”
In West Java,
especially, where temporary churches might be the most prevalent — there
is no exact number — religious violence related to the issue of places of
worship and Muslim minorities (Shiites and Ahmadis) has most frequently
occurred in recent years. And sadly, we have seen no significant efforts
from the authorities to change this.
The
bulldozing of a church in Setu, Bekasi, a district in West Java, on March
22, was therefore the foreseeable result of the local authority plumping
for one side and abandoning the other instead of trying to stand in
between.
We could see
clearly that the issue of legality was just a cover for political
expediency.
And the
people in the administration do not understand that they are actually
raising snakes in the grass. Potential conflicts should not be resolved
through one side winning and leaving the other in misery. Sooner or
later, new forms of conflict will arise since the underlying issues are
only papered over instead of being resolved.
An Indonesianist,
MC Ricklefs, based on his apprehension of what is going on in Indonesia,
dedicated his latest book Islamization and its opponents in Java (2012),
“to those who, over the centuries, have lost their livelihoods, their
homes, their friends, their loved ones, their dignity, their dreams,
their health, their freedom and their lives, because of conflicts over
what people believe.”
To avoid bias
or misunderstanding, Islamization here should be understood in the
context of other cases of proselytization, such as Christianization,
Buddhistization and so on. The point is how people try to improperly
change others’ beliefs related to the way they understand their religion
or practice their religiosity.
Beside
efforts to make an individual or a group of people convert, it also
includes any endeavors which make someone or a group feel uncomfortable
or threatened to the
extent of changing his or their minds and following the demands of the
propagators, either partially or thoroughly. For the propagators themselves,
it is usually done in the hope of gaining a godly reward as well as
communal praise and benefits.
Looking at
the present day, therefore, if one feels uncomfortable or threatened
because of propagation or the way someone or a milieu looks at one related
to one’s beliefs, it can be said that there is a tolerance problem.
And Ricklefs,
after decades of studying Indonesia, senses the problem. In other words,
scientifically, he would like to say that Indonesia is now facing a big
challenge over the quality of religious tolerance.
Certainly,
someone’s changing of a belief or the way he or she chooses to dress is
actually a privilege. Whether all citizens of a country are Muslim or
Christian is also not the point.
The point is
whether someone or a group of people deprives others of their rights or
interferes with those rights. If communal peace and harmony are really
sought it is surely a must that problems be resolved both locally and
nationally.
Back to the
above story, in the current political and legal uncertainty, our
Christian fellow citizens with their ruko places of worship are actually
like people submerged up to their necks. Once the water ripples or a
small wave comes, they will sink and we will see bloodshed or the loss of
lives.
The places of
worship will be there as long as a police or an army car is parked in
front of them. Or, the congregations will feel secure as long as the
local police are looked after and the security racketeers get their
share. But, as long as they are still worshipping in the rukos, the
quality of their “security” will not be as good as what their Muslim
fellow neighbors enjoy. ●
|
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar