Source UCA

HONG KONG, SAR: A host of pressing issues, including the rise of religious intolerance, climate change, human trafficking, violence in Christian-majority Papua, disputes over development projects, and lay-clergy conflict, await Pope Francis during his visit to the Indonesian capital Jakarta from Sept. 3-6.

 The world’s largest archipelago, consisting of over 17,000 islands, is also the most populous Muslim-majority nation, where 85 percent of its 275 million people adhere to Islam. Catholics comprise about three percent or about 8 million, primarily concentrated in Flores, Timor, Central Java, and Papua, among the Chinese groups.

 Catholics are credited for taking active roles in politics, health care, education, social charity, and advocacy. They run 5,316 schools with 55,200 teachers and 802,146 students.

 Like their fellow citizens, Indonesian Catholics face various socio-political and economic challenges. Due to the geographical and political context, these challenges often differ from region to region.

 Catholics will look at the 87-year-old supreme spiritual leader to touch and highlight those pressing issues.

 Religious intolerance

 Indonesia is generally considered a moderate Muslim nation. The two largest liberal Islamic groups—Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah—have 80 million and 50 million followers, respectively.

 Most Muslims are respectful of other faiths and insist on peaceful coexistence. However, intolerance has been visible in some regions such as Aceh, West Java, West Sumatra, and Banten provinces.

 Religious minorities, including Christians, face various levels of persecution, from obstructions to building religious worship places, disruption of worship, and physical assaults. In some areas, getting permission to build a church can be delayed for years, primarily due to opposition from Muslim hardliners.

 The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace found that between 2007 and 2023, Indonesia recorded 573 cases of disruption of religious worship of minority communities by Islamic conservatives. Such disruptions included the dissolution and rejection of worship activities, intimidation, vandalism, and arson attacks.

 Another impact of the growing intolerance is a decrease in students attending Catholic-run schools. Muslim hardliners demand that Muslim students should only participate in public and Islamic schools.

 For example, the Archdiocese of Semarang closed 90 Catholic schools due to a shortage of students.

 Climate change and environmental pollution

 Indonesian islands are paying the price for climate change, which triggers frequent natural disasters like flooding and tidal surges.

 Reckless corporate projects such as large-scale mining, palm oil, and food processing plants have threatened the natural flora and fauna in regions such as Kalimantan, Papua, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

 Sadly, it is mostly Catholics from ethnic indigenous communities who face the brunt of environmental degradation and land grabbing by corporations.

 Recently, the indigenous Awyu tribe in the Archdiocese of Merauke, South Papua Province, complained about a palm oil company that had seized their customary land.

 As part of the resistance movement, they planted a “Red Cross” on their customary land, symbolizing their rejection of the seizure of their customary land.

 Migration and human trafficking

 According to government data, about 85 percent of the population in East Nusa Tenggara province are Christians, including 56 percent Catholics. It is the poorest province in Indonesia.

 Poverty forces thousands of people, mostly farmers, to migrate to find jobs in plantations in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua province, as well as abroad.

 Malaysia is a prime destination for labor migration with most women working as domestic help and men laboring in palm oil plantations.

 Due to lack of education and limited knowledge, many workers are duped, exploited, and become victims of human trafficking. Thus, East Nusa Tenggara is a central hub for illegal migration and trafficking.

 Violence in Papua

 Christian-majority Papua region has been a hotbed of conflict and death for more than six decades since it became a part of Indonesia after the end of the Dutch colonial rule in the 1960s.

 Armed insurgency and the brutal response from the military have left thousands killed, injured, or displaced. Conflict and violation of human rights are the order of the day in Papua.

 Despite being rich in mineral resources like gold, natural gas, timber, and palm oil, the restive region is one of the country's poorest and most underdeveloped provinces.

 Since September 2021, at least 732 people have been killed and 60,642 displaced in the conflict in Papua.

 Between January 2018 and June 2024, the security forces and the rebels were involved in 236 killings of civilians, according to rights group Amnesty International.

 The conflict also divided Papuan Church and Indonesian Church leaders. Papuan Catholics have been critical of Indonesian bishops and the Vatican for their long, deafening silence on rights violations in Papua.

 The Papua conflict cannot be swept under the carpet anymore. Papuan Catholics say a pope, a vocal defender of social justice, should advocate Papuans' rights and freedoms.

 Ruthless development

 Like other eastern Indonesian regions that experienced minimal development during the last two decades, the government has stepped up development projects in Catholic-majority Flores Island.

 For example, Labuan Bajo, the gateway to Komodo National Park on the western tip of the island, has been the main target of the outgoing Joko Widodo administration's efforts to develop tourism.

 It is part of the government’s ambitious project to create 10 New Balis, which refers to developing tourism around the country as massively as in Bali, the nation’s most popular tourist destination.

 This so-called New Order can be sustained by developing tourism infrastructure and geothermal energy to serve the industry. In 2017, the government designated Flores a Geothermal Island.

 However, these projects have triggered opposition from local Catholic communities who refuse to give away their land to investors and reject the conversion of forest areas and customary land for such projects.

 Geothermal projects are funded by global financial institutions such as the World Bank. Although they are projected to be better than fossil fuels and labeled as green energy, the projects could not make much headway because of opposition from people.

 Local communities see these projects as threats – the primary drilling has left their agricultural land splashed with hot mud. Catholic groups are backing the communities as they protest and resist the destructive projects.

 Conflict with the hierarchy

 Catholics also fight the local Church’s hierarchs, who often fail to smell their flock, as Pope Francis advises.

 For example, the geothermal project issue in Flores involved local Catholics and Church leaders fighting each other.

 Bishop Siprianus Hormat of Ruteng was strongly criticized for allowing the project, reportedly at the government's request. He was accused of ignoring the people's voices.

 Catholics wrote a letter to vent their anger against the bishop and the silence of the clergy.

 The Papua question has been a divisive issue for the Indonesian Church. Many Indonesian bishops never spoke about the conflict and rights violations in Papua, and a climate of tension and division exists in the Indonesian bishops’ conference.

 Papuan Catholics have long demanded native bishops to lead them. In 2022, the Vatican’s appointment of Bishop Yanuarius Teofilus Matopai as bishop of Jayapura was seen as a response to their call.

 Glimmer of hopes

 The papal visit theme “Faith-Fraternity-Compassion” signifies hope for Catholics and non-Catholics.

 Nearly 100,000 Catholics are gearing up to meet Pope Francis during the visit, especially by joining the papal Mass at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Sept. 5.

 The delegation from each diocese is limited to only those who can pay for their accommodation in Jakarta.

 During the visit, the pope is expected to greet all Catholics in Indonesia who hold on to Christian hope despite the various difficulties and challenges they face every day.

 Francis' visit is a cause of joy and hope not just for Catholics but for millions of Indonesians who look up to him to speak for the oppressed and violated.