Conspiracy, fabricated stories and false imprisonment to stop the Christians in Padang

Update: Since Rev. Amrullah wrote this letter the Christians suffering the false accusation have been sentenced and put in prison. The whole conspiracy is laughable when considered by an intelligent person. Repentance to the Christian is "to change the mind and heart" about Christ. It is absolutely impossible to get a person to change their heart and mind about Christ by kidnapping and raping them, yet this is what the conspirators have successfully created as a scenario in the minds of the people in Padang. One can perhaps be forced to become a Muslim by kidnapping and rape ("Just repeat this simple sentence after me!"), but never a Christian!

An Open Letter by the Rev. Willy K. Amrullah

THE UNRELENTING "CHRISTIANIZATION" OF WEST SUMATRA

Since the beginning of this year the case has become a hot item. The initial issue was one of abduction and rape (of a minor), but later it was blown up and focused entirely on the issue of christianization of West Sumatra. Every day we received news reports from the "Bijak" (Wise), "Mimbar Minang" (Minang Chronicle), "Singgalang," "Haluan" (tabloid), and even from the (national) "Gatra" and "Forum" magazines. All kinds of accusations were directed at the suspects, including the "(Un)Mysterious Reverend Willy" (Bijak, 28th June - 4th July '99). Actually I have never become a fugitive because of this case, as hinted by the media. The case was opened up again after my having returned for several weeks to America, where I have lived (domiciled) for 49 years.

Somehow the media have had a good time publishing the one sided news reports, without having investigated what actually happened, and thereby passed their judgment upon the suspects. Of course I understand that the more sensational the news, the more newspapers get sold. In addition, what is more important is that this is a way to form public opinion. In this the media have been unfair, because apparently they had never taken the effort of interviewing the Christians in Padang. And what is most saddening is that they have "forgotten" to practice what (all) religions teach their followers: that we should maintain honesty and not tell any lies!

For the sake of readers who may not have followed the case, let me clarify in short what really happened. On Friday, March 27, 1998, a girl named "Devi" visited me at the home where we were staying, along with two members of the GPIB (Protestant) church. She claimed that she had changed religions and become a Christian, and therefore she was in danger from her own family (they were going to put her in stocks - like a mad man, translator's comment). Devi also claimed to have a twin sister named "Lia". It so happened that I was in Padang at that time.

Then on Monday, March 30, 1998 we received a telephone call from "Devi", telling us that she was in great danger and needed protection. I was a bit confused at the time, because she asked for our address, whereas she had already visited us the previous Friday. In short, she came. Motivated by compassion, because the girl said she could not go home and was unable also to bring her personal things, it was agreed that "Devi" stay with the family of Salmon Ongirwalu (an Ambonese) and his wife, Nenen (maiden name Liza Zuriana, a native Minangkabau) who had two children. Because no one knew how long "Devi" needed protection, "Devi" was later assisted to continue her education at the Christian "Kalam Kudus" (Holy Word) school. If all along the man who had taken her in and protected her had intended to rape the girl, would he have put her in a school, and this even in (her home city) Padang?

Only after there were people who inquired to find her at the Kalam Kudus school, and when it became known that the girl had once brought a knife to school (according to her, she was going to use it to kill herself if attacked by her former friends), we asked her if she would rather go to school outside of Padang. It so happened that Rev. Robert Marthinus, the principal of Kalam Kudus school, had relatives in Malang (East Java), and that Kalam Kudus also have an affiliated school there. It is important to understand, that "Devi" agreed to this idea. Before she left for Malang, we had asked her: Who actually was the girl who came to us the first time? She answered that the first girl who came was "Lia", not her. Only at that time did we realize that from the beginning they had lied to us.

Therefore, it is clear that there never had been any so-called "coercion to apostasy" or "abduction and rape", because "Devi" had come of her own accord and asked for protection, and also that she had agreed to move to Malang.

After a while, it became clear to us that all the stories told by her uncle, Abu Samah, starting with the "abduction/rape" ("Bijak", 14-20 June 1999, "This testimony was given by Abu Samah at the Padang court of justice to BIJAK") and later about the "christianization by coercion", were all blatant lies. I believe that the girl is part of a sinister plot of greater proportion, in which her uncle plays an important role. Should not the investigation only use a doctor's visum to prove that Khairiyah (whom we only knew under the name of "Devi") was no more a virgin? Why did they not investigate on the basis of forensics or DNA data?

Police investigations did not come up with any proof which could be used against Mr. Salmon. But the reason he is being detained is that (the police) wish to protect him from the angry masses. Thus, the man has already been sentenced (by the newspapers, translator's comment), and the angry masses have threatened to punish him outside of the law.

This whole case can be likened to an ocean wave which has great power to sweep away before it splashes unto the shore. The wave is a number of people who deliberately defame Christian leaders such as Mr. Yanuardi Koto and Rev. Robert Marthinus (who is now also behind bars like Mr. Salmon), and myself, so that our reputation as servants of God has been called into question. I really hope that the investigation team assigned by the police do indeed find out the truth. One of the teachings of my father (Dr. H. Abdul Karim Amrullah, a famous Moslem teacher) was that one should not "believe blindly" in seeking truth (he died on 2nd June, 1945 and not in 1944 as Rusydi Hamka said in "Bijak" of 12th July 1999).

I greatly admire and have been touched by the writings of my brother, the late Abdul Malik (better known as Hamka). In one of his books, entitled "Pribadi" (Personal), which was published by "Bulan Bintang" (Crescent Moon & Star), it states on page 101: "Anyone who has become totally absorbed in his own belief, whatever religion (belief) he embraces, certainly has no more time to hate the followers of other religions. How can there be hate in the heart of a person so close to God?" And on the very same page, A.R. Sutan Mansur (also a religious writer from Padang, translator's comment) said: "In this religion, it is as if we get born twice, and the first birth is in Islam. But after we have grown up, we must be born again (once more). We study the religion as deeply as possible and we adjust our lives to it. Then we begin to study other religions as well, so that - as Moslems - we will know our sameness as well as our differences."

As an older man I want to ask the young men and women, especially those who study at the IAIN (Institute of Islam). Why are you afraid and worried to hear about Minang people who have become Christians, who "only" number 93 people in West Sumatra, and 400 others who live outside the province? (Actually this is not something new, since this has been happening for over 20 years, even before the PKSB - Christian Fellowship of West Sumatra - was formed.)

If we are truly obedient to the teachings of Islam, we should not be afraid to fellowship with others and study the other Books of Allah as well. We believe that God's Word is unchanging, beginning with the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel. In the U.S.A. Christian universities/seminaries invite Moslem teachers to teach Islam to Christian students. Just as Prof. Shihab teaches at Harvard University, etc. Buya Hamka himself once went to America and spoke in several places in 1952, and I myself accompanied him all over California.

At that time I received a book he had written, entitled "My Father". In that book one can see proof of who I really am (see: "Ayahku", third printing, Djajamurni - Djakarta Publishers, pages 224-225), although Mr. Rusydi publicly said that I was only a "step brother" of Buya Hamka. I now am reminded of the relationship between Isaac and Ishmael. They had one father, but were of a different mother. Are they step brothers, although the seed came from one source? In the English language a "step brother" (which may have no blood relations whatsoever) is different from a "half brother" (usually of one father but of a different mother, or vice versa). I actually am the "half brother" of Buya Hamka, and no one can take that birth right away from me, because it was God given.

I had never any intention of bringing the name of Buya Hamka in disrepute. As proof of that, since I became a Christian 18 years ago (I became a Christian in Bali at the age of 54 on 10th June 1981, one month before Buya Hamka passed away on 24th July 1981), I have always avoided public exposure, because it could become something sensational (a half brother of the famous Hamka becoming a Christian, translator's comment). Thank God, Mr. Rusydi Hamka himself has now given me the opportunity to explain.

My reason for coming home is to enjoy my twilight years in my beloved country, for which I fought so long, a country which believes in the "Pancasila" (state ideology which accords freedom of religion to all, translator's comment). I left Indonesia in the first place, not only to become a sailor on a ship. I went abroad before the transfer of state sovereignty, and after I had been put in jail by the Dutch. During the revolution I was active in the "Angkatan Pemuda Indonesia" (Indonesian Youth), and later joined the VIth Regiment of the Army Police, working in the Investigation Department of the Siliwangi Division in Cikampek (West Java). While overseas, I continued promoting Indonesia: 17 years as an employee of the RI Consulate General in San Francisco, and being the person who established the "Ikatan Masyarakat Indonesia" (Indonesian Community Ties) in the States, and until now I continue to promote tourism for people to visit our country, particularly West Sumatra.

Whenever I am back in my own country, especially in Padang, when I look at the poverty and the suffering of the forgotten people, particularly the Minangkabau who have been ostracised by their relatives because of having become Christians, I am reminded of the teaching of Christ who said: "Whoever has worldly goods and sees his brother lacking but closes his heart toward his brother, how could God's love continue in him? ... let us love not only in words or by our mouth, but in actions and in truth" (1 John 3:17, 18). We had helped Devi, who gave us such an extraordinary story and who appeared so sincere ... and we were able to show her our love in "action", although she was not a Minang.

So, when Khairiyah came and told us what had happened to her, I was overcome with compassion and tried to help this poor girl. This was in keeping with the teaching of Jesus Christ (Isa Almasih p.b.u.h.) to love our neighbor, if even from another religion. In the Christian faith there is no such thing as coercion to become a member. And I also want to establish the fact that although I have been ordained as a pastor in the United States, I have never baptized Chairiyah Eniswah.

Back to the Salmon case, "the christianization and baptism of Khairiyah", I think that was all dreamed up by Mr. Abu Samah as the mastermind behind this game, as a tool of some people who wanted to bring our names and the Christian faith in disrepute. If this person is indeed a true Moslem, he should pray and ask God for forgiveness. Or does he believe that by his actions he will have a heavenly reward, because he had waged a holy war? In actual fact, it is he who needs to be investigated. It is unfortunate that the press have believed all those lies.

I will not evade questions, and I am well prepared to give answers. Twice I have already reported this case to Dr. Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, the RI Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the USA. Unfortunately, I have received no response to-date. In addition, I have contacted the Human Rights organizations and the "International Freedom of Religion (about twenty of them) throughout the world, so that they become aware of what is now happening in West Sumatra.

In supporting the reformation to establish a just and prosperous nation, it is time for us to realize the importance of fostering mutual understanding and harmony (between religions) within this country. I hope this letter will be published in full in your newspapers, to establish the truth. Thank you.

Cordially, Rev. W.K. Amrullah

Originating in Bahasa Indonesia from Eskol-Net [email protected] August 2, 1999