美国国家公共电台 NPR 'It's Our Right': Christian Congregation In Indonesia Fights To Worship In Its Church

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Western leaders often hold up Indonesia as a role model. It's the third-largest democracy in the world, a majority Muslim country where religious coexistence is literally¹ written into the founding documents. Lately human rights activists² have raised alarms that religious intolerance is growing in Indonesia. From Jakarta, I recently went to see one example.

Indonesia is not only one of the biggest countries in the world. It's also one of the most diverse countries in the world. And in this train station, you can see a lot of that diversity. Some of the women have their head covered by a scarf. Some of the women are showing their hair, a couple even have a full face covering.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).

SHAPIRO: I board a commuter⁴ train heading up to the Jakarta suburbs with Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch.

ANDREAS HARSONO: We are now going to Bogor.

SHAPIRO: What's Bogor like?

HARSONO: Bogor is a conservative Muslim area.

SHAPIRO: It's also an area with a strong Christian⁵ minority. To open a church, you have to jump through a lot of hoops⁶ and get permissions from the majority Muslim authorities.

HARSONO: The church that we are going to see have fulfilled all those very difficult criteria⁷, requirements - legal requirements.

SHAPIRO: The Christian group in Bogor got all the permits to build a church in this conservative Muslim area. And then hardliners said, not in my backyard. They pressured the government to cancel the permits. The government caved. The church group went to court and won. On an appeal, they won again. And finally they went to Indonesia's Supreme⁸ Court, where the church group won a third time.

HARSONO: So it was, like, almost 10 years ago.

SHAPIRO: And what's the situation today?

HARSONO: The government just ignore the Supreme Court ruling.

SHAPIRO: Specifically, the Bogor mayor has caved to local pressure from hardliners in the community.

Indonesia has a reputation for being a country that embraces religious diversity. Is the reputation false, or is this just a counter-example?

HARSONO: It is false. This is just a statement coming from people like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, all Western leaders who want to praise Indonesia for - you know, for various purposes, sometimes justified⁹, sometimes just for lip service.

SHAPIRO: Vice¹⁰ President Pence visited the country earlier this year. It's in U.S. interests to praise a large democracy that's in the neighborhood of more autocratic governments, especially when that democracy is a majority Muslim country.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Final destination - Bogor.

ALEX PAULUS: Hello.

SHAPIRO: Hello. My name is Ari.

PAULUS: Ari, I'm Alex. Nice to meet you.

SHAPIRO: Very nice to meet you, Alex.

Alex Paulus is one of the leaders of the local Christian group here. We pile into a small taxi and drive through the town of Bogor past fruit trees and market stalls.

PAULUS: When we start building the church, my kids were very small, still in the elementary school. But now they already finish their universities.

SHAPIRO: When they were small and they would ask, Dad, why isn't the church finished, what would you tell them?

PAULUS: They experience - we have Sunday school on the street just in front of our church because they sealed it. We cannot enter. And they experience the time when we were attacked by the hardliners. And the children were crying and terrified. They yell at us, say kill them; burn them. So it terrified the kids.

SHAPIRO: We're pulling up to the church compound, which is closed off. And it's illegal to go inside of it, but there is a very small door that we're going to try to duck through. There's a metal sheet blocking the entrance. We're just moving it aside. He's telling us we can come in, but we've got to be fast.

OK, we've just stepped inside the church, and it's a bare frame with a roof overhead but no insulation¹¹, no walls, just a skeleton of a building. And in the middle of the dirt floor, there is an altar with a gold cross painted on it. Alex, did you ever have services here?

PAULUS: We have. For the first time, it was Christmas in 2010.

SHAPIRO: And did everyone just sneak¹² in even though it was - even though...

PAULUS: Yes. They surround us. They force us to leave this place as soon as possible.

SHAPIRO: I see hanging on the walls there little wreaths with ribbons. Is that left over from a Christmas celebration?

PAULUS: Yes. This is the leftover¹³ from the Christmas celebration.

SHAPIRO: You could live somewhere that hardliners wouldn't come and try to burn down your church and say, kill them. Why do you keep fighting to put your church here?

PAULUS: Because it's our right. We have permission - legal.

SHAPIRO: I spoke³ with Muslims in Bogor to try to understand the opposition¹⁴ to the church. People at the mosque¹⁵ told me the community is divided over it. One man said it's a mistake to build a house of worship without local community support. But no one I met expressed the kind of strong opposition that the Bogor Christian community encountered until I went back to Jakarta.

MOHAMMED ISMAIL YUSANTO: I am Mohammed Ismail Yusanto, the spokesperson of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.

SHAPIRO: Hizbut Tahrir is an Islamist group that Indonesia's government recently banned for its extremist positions. On social media, the group encouraged the protests against the Bogor church. Spokesman Ismail Yusanto lives in Bogor and works in downtown Jakarta. In front of Hizbut Tahrir's main offices where we met him, the sign board has been covered by a black sheet since the government ban took effect.

Do you think Indonesia is becoming intolerant?

YUSANTO: No, no, no, Indonesia is very, very tolerant - I think too tolerant...

SHAPIRO: Too tolerant.

YUSANTO: ...In some cases.

SHAPIRO: For example, he says, Christians¹⁶ are overrepresented in Indonesia's Parliament as a percentage of the population. Churches in Indonesia are opening faster than mosques¹⁷, he says.

YUSANTO: There are so many church in the middle of Muslim society, Muslim community.

SHAPIRO: Why is it a problem if there is a church in a Muslim community?

YUSANTO: No, I mean, it indicate that Muslim in Indonesia is very tolerant. If you are intolerant, those church will be destroyed.

SHAPIRO: We visited Bogor...

YUSANTO: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: ...Where there is a church.

YUSANTO: Only one case, only one case.

SHAPIRO: The representative for Human Rights Watch, Andreas Harsono, says there have been more than 1,000 churches in the last decade that have been closed down. That's many more than one case.

YUSANTO: Please ask him how many mosque destroyed or close in Indonesia.

SHAPIRO: We did ask him, and Human Rights Watch says thousands of mosques have been shuttered, many from minority sects¹⁸ of Islam, which human rights advocates say is another sign of intolerance. Back in Bogor, Alex Paulus stands among the weeds and mosquitos in the shell that he hopes will someday be his Church. He recites the prayer that the congregation says every Sunday morning when they meet.

PAULUS: (Foreign language spoken).

SHAPIRO: It means, we believe that one day, we will be here serving our God because God hears prayer.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE END OF THE OCEAN'S "WORTH EVERYTHING EVER WISHED FOR")

SHAPIRO: Tomorrow, our Indonesia series continues with a doctor who says she learned some of the most important lessons of her life from the transgender women who are her patients.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: It's accepting people as they are. Just embrace your life. You understand that it's all beauty. Everyone feels each other. You know, it seems like God teach me that the world is so colorful, and you just have to accept - you know, don't reject what is there. Just try to understand.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE END OF THE OCEAN'S "WORTH EVERYTHING EVER WISHED FOR")

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

7 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

12 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

13 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

14 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

15 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

16 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

17 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

18 sects   

n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别，刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句