Relocation Process Continues for Indonesian School of Theology
October 27, 2008 – 4:45 pmUpdated report from Compass Direct News on the persecution of SETIA (Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology) in East Jakarta, Indonesia. This ought to stir us to gratitude for the freedom that God has granted us to learn and train as we desire in the West. We also ought to move us to pray that God would intervene in the evil political opposition so that the church (and its ministries) “may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (I Tim. 2:2) in that region of Indonesia.
JAKARTA, October 27 (Compass Direct News) – Over 1,000 students forced from the Arastamar Evangelical School of Theology (SETIA) in East Jakarta have now moved into an abandoned mayor’s office in Jakarta after management at the Bumi Perkemahan Cibubur (BUPERTA) campground demanded that 700 students temporarily resident there had to leave by Oct. 14.
Urged on by announcements from a mosque loudspeaker to “drive out the unwanted neighbor,” hundreds of protestors shouting “Allahu-Akbar [“God is greater]” and brandishing machetes, sharpened bamboo and acid had forced the evacuation of staff and students from the SETIA campus in Kampung Pulo village on July 26 and 27, following a misunderstanding between students and local residents. Attackers injured at least 20 students, some seriously.
Key among motives for the attack was that area Muslims felt “disturbed” by the presence of the Christian college. They want it to be moved to another area.
Following the evacuation, some students were temporarily billeted in church offices, while others slept in the lobby of Indonesia’s parliament building. Officials then moved 600 female students to the BUPERTA campground, where they were later joined by 100 male students. A further 400 male students remained at a migrants’ center in Bekasi, while 32 post-graduate students were accommodated in a housing complex in Kota Wisata, not far from the campground in Cibubur.
Read the full article.
Previous CD articles on the subject:”Unhoused Theology Students Ordered to Leave Campground“; “Students Demand Safe Return to College“; and “Mob Attacks Boarding House at Theological School“
