The past few weeks I have been bombarded by my friend’s questions and worries about coming to Indonesia. This European-American friend of mine is counting down the days to his arrival in Indo. Some of his American friends are worried more than anything in the world and have been trying to talk him out of his craziness to come. Many do not know Indonesia at all except for the exaggerated rumors that has spread in the whole world about how Christians are being persecuted and killed because of their faith.

The several bombings by terrorists in Bali and Jakarta few years ago has obviously left a deep shock (if not a scar) in the hearts of the rest of the people of the world. Australians and Americans were the target of the past bombings about 7-8 years ago. One day we were known as one of the most friendly people in the world, the next we were extremists.

The truth is we grieved with the world over what had happened. We cried with the world. With our dark brown eyes we turned around to our terrified western friends and looked them worried in their eyes, hoping to find even the slightest remains of trust in us.

For years of our existence as a nation we were known as one of the most friendly people in the world and nothing extreme like those attacks had ever happened. It took “only” 2 bombings 7-8 years ago by a small radical group and ever since, the rest of the Indonesian people have been labeled by a great part of the world as monstrous extremists.

The fact that the world had always labeled us as the “largest Moslem nation” does not help at all. It is nothing but a distorted understanding of who we are really. Even though the majority of our population is indeed Muslims, no reference to Islam teachings is made in the Indonesian constitution. This country is not a Muslim nation. To the world this misleading label may seem to be something trivial. But the fact is, Indonesians are hurting deeper than anybody outside the country can ever imagine due to this label. This false label has associated the whole nation with the small radical group that was responsible for the bombings 7-8 years ago in Bali and Jakarta. This label has put all innocent citizens on the stand and charged them guilty side by side with the bombers.

I am not sure if our government has done enough to set things straight. The fact is there are still so many distorted opinions about our country as a dangerous place to be besides for the reason that it is located on the ‘ring of fire’. They will kill you if you dare speak your mind! You will be dead if they find you drinking alcohol! You are a Christian/ Jew/ whatever and they will threaten to kill you unless you deny your faith! Those who convert into any other religion than Islam will be hunted down for the rest of their lives!

I am a Christian myself. Many of my families are Muslims. And I am the creator of this blog because of this reason:

It has been unbelievable to hear that there actually are people out there who think like that about Indonesians. The bombings from 7-8 years ago must have traumatized them deeply.

I can not stress this enough: the truth about the real Indonesia is that it is a Republic. Although the majority of the population (total population about 240 million people) are Muslims, nowhere in the Indonesian constitution says anything that makes a reference to Islam. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president.

You will not find dead bodies hung in the streets for stealing bread.

You will not find men or women who got their tongue cut out for not telling the truth.

You will not see new Christian converts being hunted down to be killed by their Muslim families.

You will not see a new Muslim convert dead in the streets for leaving Jesus Christ.

You may see women with veils or men with sorbans walking down the street. But you may also meet evangelizing Christians in bars who cares so much about your soul that they introduce their God to you.

You may hear about Muslim husbands who has 3-4 wives or even more. But you may also witness Christians having a second wife whom he married illegally through cultural ceremonies.

You may hang out in a bar and meet Muslims and Christians getting drunk together. You may see a Moslem man and his Christian wife living peacefully together for 37 years like my parents. But you may also see two people of those two different religions hating each others’ guts so much that one kills the other.

This place is not an oppressed country as you hear about Afghanistan or Irak. But then again, unless you have been here yourself and lived here and fallen in love, you will always be trapped in the distorted view about Indonesia created by the small group of extremists who have long moved on after the bombings and are now laughing in hell.

This blog is dedicated to the people of Indonesia who are nothing but peaceful, tolerant and friendly souls, misunderstood by a hurt world.

Enjoy your stay,

Elisheva Wiriaatmadja.

Popularity: 1% [?]