Building Bridges over Widening Gaps

November 8, 2002

A Mission Connections letter from Indonesia
by Bernard Adeney-Risakotta
PC(USA) mission co-worker

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Some of you may wonder how we are doing after the bombings in Bali.

We are fine. Usually we avoid Kuta beach as the worst tourist trap in Indonesia. Bali is profoundly beautiful. But Kuta is ugly to our eyes, dominated by chain restaurants, hotels, shops, and bars. Bali is a precious jewel of human civilization and natural beauty. Even romantic tourist brochures cannot do justice to the miracle of Bali's gracious, creative culture.

But Kuta was its garbage pit, full of drunken foreigners and the worst excesses of global capitalism. If it weren't such a horrendous reality, I'd be tempted to make a bad joke that it's about time somebody bombed the damn place!

Oh, the horror, the horror! Images of hundreds of body parts scattered throughout smoldering wreckage and the horribly wounded survivors filled our television screens. The bombings exploded in the hearts of most Indonesians. Forty percent of the victims are Indonesians, but their fate is hardly noted.

It is the young, innocent, white victims whose horrible fate seared the Indonesian conscience. Total strangers approached me to express their shame and anguish. If Sept. 11 seemed like some fantastic Hollywood movie, Oct.12 was here and now for Indonesians.

It was about "us." How could "we" allow such senseless brutality in our vaunted paradise of Bali? How could "we" have done such a thing? In the flash of a car bomb, the absurd assertion that there are no terrorists in Indonesia was blown to bits, and the hunt for terrorists began in earnest.

Militant Islamic groups ran for cover. Rumors flew about who was behind the bombings. When I heard speculations that the CIA planted the bombs to discredit Islam and neutralize opposition to the threatened war against Iraq, I thought it was absurd. To my chagrin, the rumor grew into a conviction in the minds of many Muslims, including some respected leaders who hate terrorism as much as I do.

I hear: "If the United States carries out a unilateral attack on Iraq, millions of Muslims in Indonesia will see it as evidence that supports their worst fears about American aggression against Islam."

How could Indonesians think such a thing? How can Americans think that attacking Iraq will reduce terrorism? How can Muslim radicals believe that Jews planned the Sept. 11 attack? How can George Bush believe that Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are the "axis of evil" in the world? How can Iranian mullahs think of America as "the Great Satan"? Why do Westerners think that terrorism is the greatest threat we face? Why do many Muslims feel that America wants to destroy their religion and way of life? Why do "we" think that "we" are the good guys and that "they" are the evil enemy? I wish I knew.

"In-group, out-group" dynamics are universal. We identify with a group called "we" in comparison with "they." There's nothing wrong with that. It is necessary to having an identity. But untold suffering results when we forget that evil is as much in us as it is in them.

Many Americans see Islam as the source of fanaticism, repression, and terror, while the West is viewed as the home of freedom, democracy, and justice. In contrast, many Muslims view the West as the source of colonialism, racism, and immorality while Islam is viewed as the fount of equality, justice, and godly civilization. If we are the good guys and they are the bad guys, then the humanity of the other is effaced.

Thousands of civilians in Iraq, or hundreds of tourists in Bali, may be slaughtered in our attempt to root out the evil. If the United States carries out a unilateral attack on Iraq, millions of Muslims in Indonesia will see it as evidence that supports their worst fears about American aggression against Islam. Radical Islam, which remains a small minority in this vast country, will be strengthened and many more Indonesians will identify the Christian West as their evil enemy.

The Bali bombing provoked great fear in Indonesia. Millions of people may sink into poverty because of the economic impact. Foreigners are leaving in droves as Western embassies warn against travel in Indonesia. The gap between "us" and "them" grows wider.

But Nona and I do not feel any gap. Our "we" includes millions of Indonesian Christians and many more of our Muslim sisters and brothers. We are part of them and they of us. Last week I was invited to wear traditional Javanese clothes and greet the guests at the wedding reception of Nona's brother. As I shook hands or touched fingertips with hundreds of smiling Muslim friends, I wondered how anyone could think of them as enemies. Every day, Muslim young people from all spectrums of belief and politics play ping-pong in our house. They would find difficulty in construing us as enemies.

Last night I attended patriotic celebrations in our village that included punk rock bands formed by local Muslim youth. As I sat with other village elders, I shared their bemusement as we endured the wall of screaming noise that assaulted our senses. One group, named Counterattack Band outdid all the others in passionate alienation. The singer just screamed most of the time, but occasionally switched to an eerily calm voice that questioned the meaning of patriotism and conventional education in the face of a future without hope.

According to my faith, Jesus was a brilliant light, opening up dark places and dispelling fear. Jesus reached across divisions of generation, class, gender, religion, and politics, giving hope that the grace of God could heal our diseases and transform us into sisters and brothers.

We are trying to live in that light, here in Indonesia. If anything, the light seems brighter here, than in the West. When we live in the light, there is no fear. The true light, which enlightens everyone, also shines in the lives of our Muslim neighbors (John 1:9). Fear is a bad counselor (Hans Burke-Fillenz).

As we approach the month of fasting (the Muslim season of Ramadan) and the joyful season of Christmas, let us pray that fear may not rule, either in Indonesia or in the West.

Your brother and sister,

Bernie and Farsijana "Nona" Adeney-Risakotta

Mission Connections, a ministry of correspondence for the PC(USA) by the Global Awareness and Involvement Office of the Worldwide Ministries Division, is now on the web at www.pcusa.org/missionconnections. It contains home pages for more than 200 missionaries, hundreds of newsletters from mission fields around the world, and prayer requests for and from PC(USA) missionaries and their partners. For more information contact Peter Kemmerle by email at pkemmerl@ctr.pcusa.org or by phone at 888-728-7228, ext. 5612.