Sadness in Sulawesi

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You and your the people of Sulawesi will be in my prayers.

Heaven on Earth
We need it NOW!

-Paul
 
I'm sorry sula
that's some bad news

------------------
Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it
 
Yes sula, it's a tragic situation indeed. My Balinese friend has just taken her children home to Kuta for a few months. She gets home about every 5 years. She said last time "things change, washing machine, everyone inside, watch "Wheel of Fortune" on TV" This time she has noticed so many trees gone and food so expensive.Just a locals observation. It's sad.
I don't want to make you feel worse, but I saw footage a couple of years ago of a private army training in Indo, and those guys were highly highly trained, doing sword exercises.It looked like a scene Freddy Mercury(or Fritz Lang) may have dreamed up, but it wasn't. It was frighteningly real.
I'm just listening to the last refrain of moby's version of What's Going On...I agree too many people dying, but I have no answers, just prayers for your countrymen sula.
 
very sad indeed.
my thoughts are with you and your the people of your native land sula.



[This message has been edited by kobayashi (edited 12-03-2001).]
 
East Timor finally gets independence, and now another Indonesian minority has to confront hatred.

Excuse my language, but what in the hell do these "Muslim fighters/militiamen" want? Do they want the Christian villagers to convert? Why can't they just coexist and celebrate diversity?

At least the Indonesian government is attempting to stabilize it; I hope it works.

~U2Alabama
 
Thank you to everyone for your prayers. Although I am not a native Indonesian, I grew up there from age 3 and no matter where I live, my little corner of the jungle in Sulawesi will always be where my heart calls home. Even though I may not ever have the chance to go there again.

At times like these I feel so frustrated and helpless. Why must there be such senseless violence? And why is it that I am here in America, warm and provided for, while there are innocent people being threatened with death for no reason? I do know that much of this violence is incited and bred and that it is not a spontaneous reaction. In my 13 years of living in Sulawesi and in the broader country of Indonesia, people lived side by side in relative harmony. Christians could go about their daily lives without being in fear of their Muslim neighbors and vice versa. I remember very well visiting the island back in December of 1998, just as the oppressive Suharto regime had been toppled and the massive country made up of so many ethnicities and cultures began to stir. We were in Palu, only a few hours drive away from Tentena (the place in the above news story) when the chief of police told us to keep a low profile...that there were people travelling throughout the island trying to rally the people against each other and stir up hatred and rioting. Fortunately at that time, the leaders of the different religious communities talked together and decided that they would not let their people be drawn into the fray...that they would speak out and encourage their church and mosque members to not listen to the inciting and the falsehoods. You would be shocked if you knew the measures these instigators will go to in order to turn a peaceful area into a warzone of mayhem.

And sadly enough, with the government now weak and hardly able to establish their legitimacy, it's unlikely that anything substantial will be done to stop this. When the Islamic Jihad militants sent troops and weapons into the Malukus, the government politely looked the other way. When thousands of Christians in Ambon were driven from their homes and slaughtered, the world community hardly batted an eye. When ethnic violence ripped through West Kalimantan (incidentally very near where I attended high school) people were being beheaded and their body parts paraded through the streets and still no one cared. Oh there was talk. Always talk and promises. But in the end, nothing is done.

We may fear the actions of terrorists on the other side of the globe, but it strikes me as ironic that these same terrorists have been funding and aiding in promoting unrest and violence in other parts of the world that we generally know nothing (and care nothing) about. Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the entire world. Until recently, the sort of Islam one would encounter there was the moderate, thoughtful Islam...the kind that would allow for a limited amount of tolerance and for freedom of religion. But there are many who would love to see this beautiful country converted to an ally of the radical Muslim world. They have been working towards that end for years. Who knows if common sense will prevail. What I do know is that the Indonesian people deserve better. They are kind and generous, beautiful people with a rich tapestry of culture that goes back for thousands of years. I only hope that they will find a way to rise above the divisions and seek to make the country a safe home for all its citizens.

-sula
 
Sula-if it wouldn't be too sad for you at this time-and, of course, I understand if it would..

I would love if you had any photos to post of Sulawesi-maybe you have before, I don't know. But I'd enjoy seeing them if you felt OK posting them.
 
Sorry to hear about what is going on in your original home Sula. Ya know whenever I hear something about that Sulawesi I think of You!
 
I would hope that something could be organized through the UN to send a peacekeeping force because I have my doubts about the effectiveness and motives of the Indonesian military.
I pray that people come to their senses and an outside force quickly intervenes to prevent more violence.
 
That's terrible Sula, I'm sorry to hear it.
I hope things will get better there, soon.
 
Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
When thousands of Christians in Ambon were driven from their homes and slaughtered, the world community hardly batted an eye. When ethnic violence ripped through West Kalimantan (incidentally very near where I attended high school) people were being beheaded and their body parts paraded through the streets and still no one cared.
Click to expand...

I'm very sorry to hear about this situation, sula. It reminds me of when I was reading the accounts of the ethnic war in Rwanda in '94, and the West seemed to be completely ignoring it.
 
Violence has torn up the island where I spent my happy childhood. This is not the first time this has occurred, nor will it be the last. But if you would, imagine what you would feel like if you heard the people in your home state or province were being massacred while nothing substantial was being done to stop it. And if you would, please pray for the innocent victims of this senseless violence.

From http://asia.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/southeast/12/03/indonesia.violence/index.html
Fierce clashes between Muslims and Christians continued in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, giving rise to fears of widespread religious violence in the area.

More than 1,000 people have been killed on the island, about 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta, in the past two years with ethnic fighting flaring up in the last few weeks.

At least eight people have been killed in the past week but there are concerns the death toll could escalate rapidly if the violence is not contained.

The United Nations warned Monday that heavily armed Muslim fighters were preparing to attack more than 60,000 Christian villagers on the Island.

Both sides are prepared to fight, the United Nations said after sending a team to Sulawesi, and there were about 7,000 Muslim guerillas in the region.

Many villagers were fleeing the town of Tentena or making preparations for the onslaught from Muslim militiamen who are believed to be members of the extremist Laskar Jihad group.

A report from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said that Laskar Jihad members manned road blocks near the predominantly Christian town of Tentena and were flying flags depicting Osama bin Laden as their leader.

The group has been accused of invoking the latest violence in Sulawesi and some of its commanders are believed to have received training in Afghanistan.

The Indonesian government is preparing to send in thousands of troops in an effort to quell the violence and stabilize the area.

Thousands of Muslims and Christians have fled several towns and sought refuge in police stations, churches and military barracks, local news reports said.

Asmara Nababan, a member of the government's National Human Rights Commission, said the situation in central Sulawesi was quickly deteriorating and that violence was continuing despite patrols by soldiers.

"The situation is critical," Nababan told the Associated Press news agency. "We are afraid that there is going to be a lot of violence."

Hot bed

Nababan said Tentena was surrounded by Muslim fighters, who were threatening to attack anytime.

Nababan said three human rights investigators were dispatched to the region on Monday to investigate why the "police and military seemed unable to stop the conflict."

On Monday, police shot to death a rioter and wounded five others after a Muslim mob staged an attack on a church in Poso, the Associated Press reported.

Indonesia has been a hot bed for religious and ethnic violence.

Earlier this year in the province of Central Kalimantan, around 500 people were killed and tens of thousands displaced after ethnic clashes between native Dayaks and Madurese.
Click to expand...

frown.gif


-sula
 
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