A letter from Rebecca Young in Indonesia
December 2009
Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the perks of being a mission co-worker for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is that many wonderful people faithfully pray about the joys and concerns that I encounter in my daily life in Indonesia. It is both an empowering and humbling gift for me.
A constant item on my prayer list is for the emerging democracy of Indonesia. After 350 years of Dutch subjugation followed by 43 years under the imperialist governments of two powerful dictators, Indonesia became a democracy in 1998. The current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is the first to have been democratically elected. On July 8, 2009, 122 million Indonesian citizens cast their vote on his candidacy against two other strong candidates.
Pak Paino, security guard at Jakarta Theological Seminary, proudly displays his purple-dipped finger as a sign he voted, July 9, 2009, Jakarta.
On the day of the election in July 2009, many of our seminary campus staff, including our security guards, proudly displayed a purple finger indicating their participation in the momentous event. On the way out of the voting booth, each person dips one a finger in indelible ink to prevent people from voting twice. For a day or two after the election, everyone had a partially-purple finger as a memento.
With so much negativity in the media these days, via this newsletter I hope to send a strong message of encouragement to everyone back home: Indonesia, as the fourth largest country in the world, is making amazing progress towards democracy. This news isn’t as attention grabbing as bombs exploding in war-besieged countries, but it’s far more significant as a sign of hope for the world.
Peace and quiet reign at sunset around the statue entitled "Welcome to Jakarta!", site of earlier demonstrations in support of International Anti-Corruption Day, Dec. 9, 2009, Jakarta.
In addition to a peaceful election, another telltale sign of Indonesia’s progress occurred in the build-up to Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2009. That day was World Anti-Corruption Day, meant to raise awareness and concerted action against corruption. In early December, several Indonesian pro-democracy groups began announcing their plans to hold major demonstrations throughout the country’s 37 provinces that day. They applied to the police for permission to demonstrate. The police made necessary arrangements to provide them protection and space to demonstrate.
A surprising thing happened a few days prior to the event. The president made a public statement that the demonstrations were being incited by opponents trying to wreck his presidency.
The reaction from the demonstrators was immediate and forceful: they had nothing but peaceful intentions. The demonstrations were going to be celebrations of the progress that Indonesia had made against corruption, not protests. For several days, the nightly news showed a back and forth between the president’s press secretary and the demonstrations’ leaders.
On the eve of Dec. 9, the president called a press conference in which he declared the right of the people to participate in the demonstrations, and reiterated his stated campaign goal of fighting corruption throughout his five-year term.
Since Dec. 9 was a Wednesday, I went to campus as usual. Admittedly I boarded the bus that morning with a bit of trepidation because the center of the city — and thus the center of the demonstrations — was not far from the seminary. Throughout the day, we waited on pins and needles for reports from the downtown area. But the only sound was enthusiastic chanting from busloads of people on the way to the demonstrations.
It is with great joy I report to you that the demonstrations went without a hitch. There was a bit of destruction in a few of the far-flung cities of Indonesia, where the police presence wasn’t as strong, but here in Jakarta I can with confidence announce that the worst injury sustained were a few blisters on the feet of the thousands of people who participated in the march.
Thanks be to God.
As the sun was setting and all the participants had headed back home, I made my way to the nearly deserted streets of downtown Jakarta. Amazingly, there wasn’t much trash on the roads — just a couple of flyers fluttering in the wind.
So my message to you all is: no news is good news. You didn’t hear about the Dec. 9 demonstrations in Indonesia on the nightly news in the U.S. because by our standards it was a non-event. No one got hurt or violated the rights of another person.
But in God’s eyes, that’s good news. I believe Indonesia made the headlines up in heaven that day, because justice and peace and love and goodwill triumphed for a few hours on the streets of this little corner of Java, and echoed throughout this vast archipelago.
To my sisters and brothers in Christ who are praying for me back at home, this newsletter is my way of thanking you and asking you to keep those prayers coming.
They are working, in ways you can’t even imagine, thanks to the power of our awesome God.
Peace be with you.
Becca
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 132
