1997 was certainly a memorable year for the world and OMC. Princess Diana and Mother Theresa died, Hong Kong was returned to China, and the highest-grossing movies of all time, Titanic, was released that year. The 1997 and the fourth OMC was the only one held during 4th of July holiday and had the largest and most diverse speakers from Indonesia. We had 3 theologians, 3 business professionals, 2 provincial governors, 1 cabinet minister, and 2 political activists spoke at the conference. This OMC had shifted FICA’s focus from serving church or Christian organizations to human rights. The shift was due to three compelling story lines shared by the speakers.
One story line emerged from that year OMC was the church was under attack in rural area or in eastern part of Indonesia. The number of churches burnt was escalating for the past year and the attack was more coordinated. Some of the report described interviews of military personnel that either participated or turned a blind eye on the attacks. FICA and the audience began to sense that trouble was looming and felt compel to participate in human rights activism.
The second story line illustrated how badly the Indonesian economy was infected by the corruption, collusion, and nepotism. One of the speakers listed the number of banks that had barely passed the minimum capital requirement or CAR (capital adequacy requirement). He also mentioned about how much the country as whole borrowed money to develop the country. We all knew that much of this foreign debt was corrupted.
The third story line described how deeply Indonesia was affected by the global events. Events in Middle East, such as the Iraq invasion, and Israel-Palestinian conflict, had resulted in deep anger between the majority of Indonesians and the West. Following the Iraq invasion to Kuwait, major news paper in Indonesia had clearly sided with Iraq and tried to justify the invasion. Churches, which were associated with the West, became a target for public rage in Indonesia.
Coincidentally, “Titanic” was released at the end of 1997. This boat was the Babel tower of the 19th century. The Titanic symbolized the arrogance and disobedient of mankind. The “Titanic” events had started in July of 97 with the devaluation of Thai’s Bath. By 1998, the three story lines converged. Mass killing and rape tainted Jakarta, the banking sector collapsed, and the new order regime trembled. The devastating consequences of greed, sin, and pure vandal acts against God were shared by all Indonesians since then.
God through OMC speakers had warned us, just like the Titanic; that the arrogance and disobedient of mankind had sailed and about to sunk deep in the sea of humanity crisis. It was and still is one of the many benefits of attending OMC: obtaining insights from the Insider in business, politics, and government of Indonesia.