Indonesian Muslims Fear Christianization
Indonesian Muslims are worried about a growing Christianization drive in the world's most populous Muslim country led by Indonesian Chinese, the economic heavyweights.
"The missionaries’ ability to come and give food as well as other services coupled with government corruption in providing alternatives allows this problem to swell," Dr. Mohammad Siddiq, Executive Director of Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia, told IslamOnline.net.
He believes that Christianization is a major problem persisting in Indonesia and that one of its chief reasons is poverty.
Siddiq, whose group leads the fight against this drive, said Christians use social services to spread their message.
He added that tsunami-ravaged Aceh was a prime example with missionaries pouring into the area to deliver aid and their message.
The same pattern occurred in other places including Yogyakarta after a devastating earthquake last year.
Siddiq said people disaffected by abject poverty coupled with frequent natural disasters and little knowledge about their own religion have created similar scenarios.
The PKS, an Islamic political and social activist group, says Indonesians are very open and accepting people, thus easily influenced.
If someone comes and treats Indonesians well, giving them money, jobs and food as some missionary groups do, their heart becomes attached to the person.
"The Indonesians think with their heart, if you win their heart you win their soul," said one PKS activist.
Many Indonesian Muslims look up for wealthy Muslim countries to help them withstand such temptations.
Less Muslims
Islam entered Indonesia via trade with Arabs, Mughal Indians and Zheng He, the Chinese navigator during the Ming dynasty.
Roughly a century after Islam arrived, Christian missionaries did too.
This culminated in the colonization of most of the archipelago by the Dutch for 350 years until Independence in 1945.
Christianity experienced an exponential growth that peaked in the 1960’s and 70’s when over a relatively short period of time millions converted to Christianity.
Dr. Fatimah Husein, an Indonesian lecturer at State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, attributed the mass conversions to the events following the Communist coup and its suppression in 1965.
Many Communists seeking acceptance were quickly welcomed by the Christians, she concluded in her thesis Muslim-Christian Relations in the New Order Indonesia.
Husein cites comparative Indonesian State Statistics based on censuses in 1971 and 1990.
In 1971, Muslims made up 87.5 percent of the Indonesian populace and Christians 7.5 percent.
In 1990, the Muslim percentage went down slightly to 87.2 while the Christian increased by 2.1 percent to reach 9.6.
Booming
Today, Christian missionaries are as active as they have ever been.
Indigenous Christians and Chinese immigrants who converted to Christianity during the Dutch occupation make up the bulk of the missionary effort.
With privileges under the Dutch that they continued to enjoy under Indonesian dictator Soeharto, Chinese Christians have accumulated great economic powers.
Malls host public speeches on Christian topics as well as Christmas celebrations, while giving little recognition to Islamic holidays.
Most of those building and managing these malls are Christians of Chinese descent.
One example is the newest mall built in Jakarta, Senayan City Mall, which has a church on its top floor.
The mall, built and managed by Manggala Gelora Perkasa, offers a large public space of attraction to many Indonesians.
Questions directed to the mall about the placement of a church inside were avoided and never responded to.
The Catholic Church has 57 churches in the capital Jakarta alone.
Another example of concealed missionary is evident in the healthcare sector.
One of the largest financial blocs in Indonesia belongs to the Lippo Group of Mochtar Riady, a Christian and Chinese.
The Group has holdings in many different markets, with healthcare comprising a quarter of their earnings.
Their line of hospitals, called Siloam Hospitals (Siloam is the Indonesian version of Shalom for the Jewish greeting or in Indonesia the Christian version of Salam), offers international standard healthcare.
The hospitals are overtly Christian given the name and the symbol being the Cross.
Many Muslims frequent these hospitals and have often been cited as grounds for proselytizing.
Dr. Husein insists that Christians in Indonesia cannot be viewed as one bloc and that there are many groups with different views about proselytizing.
"There are groups in Christianity, as well as in Islam, who are more ‘hardliners’ and they might have the agenda to Christianize Indonesia as part of their religious mission," she told IOL.
"However, I think Muslims have to be cautious that even amongst the Christians themselves there are disagreements as to how to spread their religions."
islamonline.net
He believes that Christianization is a major problem persisting in Indonesia and that one of its chief reasons is poverty.
Siddiq, whose group leads the fight against this drive, said Christians use social services to spread their message.
He added that tsunami-ravaged Aceh was a prime example with missionaries pouring into the area to deliver aid and their message.
The same pattern occurred in other places including Yogyakarta after a devastating earthquake last year.
Siddiq said people disaffected by abject poverty coupled with frequent natural disasters and little knowledge about their own religion have created similar scenarios.
The PKS, an Islamic political and social activist group, says Indonesians are very open and accepting people, thus easily influenced.
If someone comes and treats Indonesians well, giving them money, jobs and food as some missionary groups do, their heart becomes attached to the person.
"The Indonesians think with their heart, if you win their heart you win their soul," said one PKS activist.
Many Indonesian Muslims look up for wealthy Muslim countries to help them withstand such temptations.
Less Muslims
Islam entered Indonesia via trade with Arabs, Mughal Indians and Zheng He, the Chinese navigator during the Ming dynasty.
Roughly a century after Islam arrived, Christian missionaries did too.
This culminated in the colonization of most of the archipelago by the Dutch for 350 years until Independence in 1945.
Christianity experienced an exponential growth that peaked in the 1960’s and 70’s when over a relatively short period of time millions converted to Christianity.
Dr. Fatimah Husein, an Indonesian lecturer at State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, attributed the mass conversions to the events following the Communist coup and its suppression in 1965.
Many Communists seeking acceptance were quickly welcomed by the Christians, she concluded in her thesis Muslim-Christian Relations in the New Order Indonesia.
Husein cites comparative Indonesian State Statistics based on censuses in 1971 and 1990.
In 1971, Muslims made up 87.5 percent of the Indonesian populace and Christians 7.5 percent.
In 1990, the Muslim percentage went down slightly to 87.2 while the Christian increased by 2.1 percent to reach 9.6.
Booming
Today, Christian missionaries are as active as they have ever been.
Indigenous Christians and Chinese immigrants who converted to Christianity during the Dutch occupation make up the bulk of the missionary effort.
With privileges under the Dutch that they continued to enjoy under Indonesian dictator Soeharto, Chinese Christians have accumulated great economic powers.
Malls host public speeches on Christian topics as well as Christmas celebrations, while giving little recognition to Islamic holidays.
Most of those building and managing these malls are Christians of Chinese descent.
One example is the newest mall built in Jakarta, Senayan City Mall, which has a church on its top floor.
The mall, built and managed by Manggala Gelora Perkasa, offers a large public space of attraction to many Indonesians.
Questions directed to the mall about the placement of a church inside were avoided and never responded to.
The Catholic Church has 57 churches in the capital Jakarta alone.
Another example of concealed missionary is evident in the healthcare sector.
One of the largest financial blocs in Indonesia belongs to the Lippo Group of Mochtar Riady, a Christian and Chinese.
The Group has holdings in many different markets, with healthcare comprising a quarter of their earnings.
Their line of hospitals, called Siloam Hospitals (Siloam is the Indonesian version of Shalom for the Jewish greeting or in Indonesia the Christian version of Salam), offers international standard healthcare.
The hospitals are overtly Christian given the name and the symbol being the Cross.
Many Muslims frequent these hospitals and have often been cited as grounds for proselytizing.
Dr. Husein insists that Christians in Indonesia cannot be viewed as one bloc and that there are many groups with different views about proselytizing.
"There are groups in Christianity, as well as in Islam, who are more ‘hardliners’ and they might have the agenda to Christianize Indonesia as part of their religious mission," she told IOL.
"However, I think Muslims have to be cautious that even amongst the Christians themselves there are disagreements as to how to spread their religions."
islamonline.net
