In 2007, FICA has been invited to be part of a team that prepared the testimony of refugees from various sectarian conflicts in Indonesia. The testimony and facts were presented to the international body as well as US and Indonesian governments. The task was meticulous, dangerous, tiring, but rewarding. This short writing recapped our 24 months involvement in this project.
Our first step was to find hard data and statistics on the conflicts. For just the Poso conflicts, there was no agreement among the think tanks on how many people had been displaced, injured, or killed. We could not even have the accurate numbers of churches, mosques, or Buddhist temples were affected. We were struggling to find where the police and the army were stationed during the conflict. We sent two trips to Poso to gather data. We found that the data published by the Center for Legal Democracy and Human Rights were the most complete and accurate.
Reverend Damanik one of leader in Poso that was unjustly sentenced to prison
Secondly, we had to reconstruct the chronology of the conflicts. The task was extremely dangerous because we had to cross the conflict areas. Some of our team was threatened directly or indirectly through phone. Some of our wives and family members received phone threats. The closer we were to the presentation date, the more threats were received. Some of the aggressors had actually fulfilled their threat and attack the crisis center and some villages.
Thirdly, we had to bring the eye witnesses to testify. The hearing was conducted in 2 different countries and in front of more than 20 groups. The whole process was tiring not only because of the logistic but also the intense pressure of ensuring the correctness and accuracy of our talk. On top of it, we had to endure a one year legal appeals for 3 innocent men but were charged death penalty. It broke our hearts, when we found that these 3 innocent men were still charged and were executed.
None of this hard work was successful in our eyes at the time. None of the objective was reached. We were down and almost beaten. However, somehow God always gave us inspiration from the unexpected sources. One time, it came from interviewing a little girl that witnessed the killing of her father. The other time came from a lawyer that had given up his wealth to defend the defenseless. A lot of time however, we found our strength from the Bible. We remembered reading Luke 18. It is a parable about a powerless widow that seeks justice from a Roman judge. We could imagine a Roman judge, indulged in his self righteous and proud in his power and status, immediately neglect the widow’s request. However, because he did not want to be bothered, he would grant the righteous request of the widow.
We knew the tide will turn toward us. We just had to persist and keep praying hard. As in Luke 18 said, “And will God not give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I will tell you, God will give justice to them speedily.” Six years gone by, the tide has turned. The conflicts had subsided and most of us could participate in the building of its society and culture. It is truly amazing. We know our God is alive and in control.