Faith and God and Tsunami

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16 responses to “Faith and God and Tsunami”

1. 

   January 9, 2005

   avianto

   Ah. I couldn’t agree more. It seems like Indonesian people are suffering from delusional paranoidal xenophobic miracle dependent (if such words even exists). Sick, isn’t it? I guess Indonesian people need to relearn the meaning of ‘faith’, after all most of the so-called-religion-man are basically the medicine peddler just trying to condemn people so they can get into Heaven alone. (pardon my cynical attitude).

   So as an architect (you and I) we know that most mosque are open space, column supported building, so logically speaking the pressure of water was flowed freely instead of broke the surface. So if the column is slim and strong enough, it will stand.

   Anyway, well said. And also asking permission to (sometime) link this entry to my own long (more nasty and flamatory, of course) entry in my weblog ;).

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2. 

   January 9, 2005

   enda

   On many other mailing lists or internet forums, ignorant non-moslem has a simple answer for why this disaster happened. It’s simply god punishment to moslem [aka aceh] for all the churches that moslem have burned/destroyed in Indonesia.

   IMO in this case [natural disaster] trying to find much-needed religious answers/explanations is useless.

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3. 

   January 9, 2005

   Cay

   I’m stand for Indrani in this matter.

   The disaster is a disaster, a massive communal problem that we need to solve together. Faith is faith, let it goes back to personal experience, preference and belief. The ‘answer’ for the two things is not the same.

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4. 

   January 10, 2005

   Dita

   I agree that we don’t need to worry about whether this is a punishment to God’s un-chosen ones, or a blessing for God’s chosen ones (leaving all of us un-chosens to suffer in this world while the syuhada goes straight to heaven). Everybody will believe what they want to believe anyway, but nobody will really know.

   But regarding the concern about hidden missionary motives: the percentage of these ‘loaded’ aid may not be large compared to the ‘sincere’ aid, but can their existence be denied? At this point it’s not about personal faith anymore, because from my observation the people worried about the ‘loaded’ aids are not worried about their own personal faiths. Rather they’re worried about other people, i.e. the tsunami victims especially the impressionable children, who in dire times may (and I say may) be more susceptible to what’s termed as ‘the battle of ideas’.

   Why think about such things, why can’t we all be altruistic and give for the sake of helping the needy? Hey, I’d love it if it’s like that, but this is earth, not utopia. These things happen.

   So in a way, the circulated email serves as an alert that those who are concerned need to participate to make sure that the so-called propaganda that come with the ‘loaded’ aids, if exist, are countered or neutered. One of the ways is by showing that ‘hey, they’re not the only one who help, you know’. You wrote ‘compete in doing good deeds’. That’s what some of the email forwarders are doing. Or should be doing anyway.

   (Sorry if I confuse anyone, I think I make better sense in my mother tongue ^^;)

   And if there’s another concern about aids in the affected areas, it’s about whether some rats in the bureaucracy would pocket some cash to their own pockets.

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5. 

   January 10, 2005

   Anonymous

   Just a thought from my too simple mind. It is maybe in the normal & good times that we could (or dare) to say that our faith is as strong as hell. In other times or in worse times it may even be weaker than a hair thread…

   Just a thought…
   Have we ever experience hunger & thirst so badly that we would kill to eat?
   Have we ever suffer so greatly that our mind plays tricks on us?
   I sure hell never experienced those things, and I can’t say whether I would have enough faith in me at those times….

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6. 

   January 10, 2005

   Anonymous

   this is a very good post. People want to believe in something and intreprets the events that they saw to their own accord while sometimes ignores other facts. Or it’s just a twisted campaign set off deliberately on the net by unknown party..

   The same could be said about the second issue I guess

   -chafid

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7. 

   January 10, 2005

   Rita Padawangi

   This is a very good post and well said. It seems that there is a tendency to assume the disaster as a “punishment from God” and on the other hand suggesting, “look, these religious buildings were still standing, this is a miracle from God.”

   For me, I don’t see the disaster as a punishment. It is a natural happening. If it is a sign, it is a sign for Indonesia to build earthquake & tsunami warning system, and for the builders to build better structures, and for the rest of the world that there are more important things to do — which is all about solidarity and helping others — compared to, for example, making a war.

   The “miracle” in Aceh is that people are joining hands in helping, no matter what their backgrounds are. And I was also really touched by how my friends here [Chicago] — even when they have no relationship whatsoever to Aceh, they haven’t even heard there is an area called “Aceh” in Indonesia — could express their empathy, even some of them shed tears when seeing the news or pictures of the destruction. To me, that’s the real miracle.

   Whether the aids are “loaded” or not, I agree with Rani’s post — we should not worry about it because we should believe in the strength of our faith! I hope the tsunami victims and survivors will get all the help, support, and comfort they need in this tough time….

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8. 

   January 14, 2005

   Anonymous

   Nice subject, Rani. 🙂
   Actually what has happened in Aceh was one of God’s will. The circulation of the earth, what’s happening in the universe, are all in God’s Hand and Will, and only Him alone who can manage this. See QS Yunus/Jonah: 1-6, QS Ar Ra’d/The Thunder: 1-17, and still a lot more. 🙂
   So, yes, I do believe in God’s miracle. If He has a will to destroy all of it, so be it.
   Yes, perhaps it’s because of the structure, so the mosques still stay put. But again, if God has another will, it’ll be another story. Sigli’s mosque is one of the miracles God shown us. The mosque which is made from wood still stay intact and strong, though buildings around it which were made from the same material collapsed. See:http://www.republika.co.id/koran_detail.asp?id=183768&kat_id=3
   So, from this event alone, it should make we, as human think.

   dew

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9. 

   January 17, 2005

   merlyna lim

   Salah satu mesjid yg masih berdiri megah adalah Masjid Baiturahman. Historically, this mosque was built by Dutch to win the heart of Achehnese — this is contradictory with the ‘myth’ and ‘belief’ of some Achehnese that it was built by their ancestors (previous Baiturahman mosque built by Achehnese was much smaller and it was torn down already long time ago..). Inget soal Snuck Hurgronye dan perang Padri? Nah, mesjid inilah salah satu siasat Belanda + si Snuck u/ mengakhiri resistance-nya org Aceh dan cukup berhasil.
   Dutch, of course, is the oldest master in building construction… no wonder, the mosque is stronger than modern building..

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10. 

    January 18, 2005

    Anonymous

    What do you say to this?

    Some disgusting people trying to profit for other’s losses…

    Tsunami Orphans Won’t Be Sent to Christian Home

    By Alan Cooperman
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A01

    The Virginia-based missionary group WorldHelp has dropped its plans to place 300 Muslim “tsunami orphans” in a Christian children’s home, the group’s president, the Rev. Vernon Brewer, told news agencies yesterday.

    The children were still in the Muslim province of Aceh and had not been airlifted to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, according to an e-mail under Brewer’s name circulating yesterday among his supporters.

    In an interview Tuesday for an article published in yesterday’s Washington Post, Brewer said that the children already had been airlifted to Jakarta and that the Indonesian government had given permission for them to be placed in a Christian children’s home. Brewer did not return calls from The Post yesterday to his home, office and cell phone to address the discrepancy.

    In the e-mail, as well as in statements given to Reuters and Agence France-Presse, Brewer said WorldHelp had raised $70,000 to place 50 of the children in a Christian orphanage but had halted its efforts when it learned on Wednesday that the Indonesian government would not allow it.

    “Once we became aware that the government had refused to let these children be placed in a Christian home, we immediately stopped all fundraising efforts for the remaining 250 Indonesian orphaned children and appeals were removed from our website,” the e-mail said.

    The group’s plan to raise children from Muslim families in a Christian home struck a nerve in Indonesia, which had regulations in place even before the tsunami requiring orphans to be raised by people of their own religion. This rule was adopted in large part to ensure that Muslim children were not converted.

    In response to fears that Acehnese tsunami orphans would be trafficked, the Indonesian Department of Social Affairs adopted a further prohibition on people taking children out of the province. Officials said the only exemptions were for relatives.

    Despite these restrictions, radical Muslim activists in Indonesia have warned against the operations of some Christian relief groups, arguing that their ultimate motive is to convert the Acehnese away from Islam, which has long been a part of the province’s cultural identity. Though most Indonesians do not share the radicals’ extreme agenda, these concerns have resonated among many in the country, who remain suspicious of foreigners and particularly Westerners.

    In Brewer’s e-mail yesterday, which was forwarded to The Post by a WorldHelp supporter, he said WorldHelp thought it had the Indonesian government’s permission for its plans because of a report from the charity’s Christian partners in Indonesia, Henry and Roy Lantang.

    On Jan. 3, he said, the Lantangs sent WorldHelp, based in Forest, Va., near Lynchburg, a message saying they had “just received news that approximately 300 children under the age of 12 who had become orphans are at the airport in Banda Aceh and Medan waiting to be transported to Jakarta.” The Lantangs added that the “rescuers of these children” had issued an open invitation to “any organization or family willing to adopt or take care of” the children.

    “It was our understanding that this was done with the permission of the Indonesian government,” Brewer’s e-mail said. But because of “a huge backlash from the Islamic community in Aceh, the government of Indonesia is now refusing to allow the orphaned children to be placed in any non-Muslim homes,” the e-mail said.

    Reuters and AFP quoted Brewer as saying WorldHelp learned of the Indonesian government’s refusal Wednesday, the day the fundraising appeal was taken off the group’s Web site, and the day before The Post’s article was published about the group’s plans.

    Before WorldHelp changed its Web site, it contained an appeal for funds that described the Aceh people as “strict Sunni Muslims” who “have been very instrumental in spreading Islam throughout Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia.” Normally, it said, “Banda Aceh is closed to foreigners and closed to the gospel. But, because of this catastrophe, our partners there are earning the right to be heard and providing entrance for the gospel.” The fundraising appeal went on to say that WorldHelp was working with Christian partners in Indonesia who want to “plant Christian principles as early as possible” in the 300 Muslim children.

    “These children are homeless, destitute, traumatized, orphaned, with nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. If we can place them in a Christian children’s home, their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people,” it said.

    In the message yesterday, Brewer said he makes “no apologies for the fact that World Help is a Christian organization.” He said the organization is seeking other orphaned children in need of a home and is making every effort to ensure that all funds raised for tsunami children are used as designated.

    “We’re really not trying to proselytize,” Brewer said in an interview with Reuters. “It’s no different than what Mother Teresa did by taking Hindu orphan children and placing them in a Roman Catholic children’s home in Calcutta, and she won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing that.”

    Correspondent Alan Sipress contributed to this report from Jakarta

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11. 

    January 19, 2005

    Hendri Syahrial

    mbak’e…
    bukan seperti itu cara berpikirnya…
    kami justru salut dan berterima-kasih dengan banyaknya dana dan bantuan dari pihak asing.
    salut buat mereka yang benar-benar tulus!. tapiii tidak semuanya seperti itu mbak’e, banyak musang berbulu domba yang juga ikut ndompleng disana dengan motif lain, yaitu “menyelamatkan para domba-domba tersesat”.
    anda katakan “Is your faith so weak that you need to be afraid to people of other religion?” bukan seperti itu mbak’e, musang-musang berbulu domba dari kalangan anda sangat-sangat licik, dan dia hanya mau memangsa dan dan menyatap korban yang lemah-lemah saja, soalnya kalo mau memangsa yang sudah kuat dan mantap imannya, mereka tidak berani. kenapaaa? karena misionaris dari kalangan anda hanyalah musang yang pengecut. baru-baru ini 300 anak aceh diangkutin oleh para misionaris anda, siapa yang salah? yaaa jelas kami-kami patut dipersalahkan karena kok musang-musang tersebut bisa-bisanya luput. mereka hanyalah musang-musang yang mengambil kesempatan dari penderitaan orang lain. yaaa begitulah salah satu gambaran toleransi semu dari agama anda. sekarang anda ikut bicara dengan berbagai argumen anda yang timpang. ahhh dijelaskan juga anda tidak akan mengerti kok, cobalah dilihat-lihat kondisi aceh sekarang dengan pergi langsung kesana.

    soal masjid yang berdiri tegar di aceh, jelas itu sudah kehendak-Nya, apa sih yang gak di atur oleh Dia? bahkan daun yang bergoyang pun sudah menjadi kehendak-Nya. jika kota medan yang bernasib seperti aceh, kemudian gereja-gereja tetap berdiri diantara bangunan yang rusak, mungkin anda juga akan mengatakan itu keajaiban, anda akan memuji tuhan jeses anda dan kemudian terkagum-kagum, iya kan ? :), itu hanyalah luapan yang alami dari suatu pemeluk agama dan anda tidak perlu repot2 menuliskan keresahan dan ketidaksenangan anda disini.

    – Hendri Syahrial

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12. 

    January 21, 2005

    Rita Padawangi

    astagaaa…
    seru juga ya posting nya.
    saya cuma mau komentarin komentar nih 🙂 yaitu komentar dari mas Hendri Syahrial.

    Saya ingin mengkritik pendapat Hendri.

    Pertama, argumen mengenai “musang-musang berbulu domba hanyalah musang yang pengecut”. Saya enggak setuju dengan penggunaan kata ‘musang’ bagi para misionaris tersebut. Musang kan memakan anak ayam, sedangkan para misionaris ini enggak membunuh anak2 tersebut. Memang para misionaris tersebut mungkin membawa muatan evangelis, yang tidaklah etis di tengah bencana alam yang terjadi. Namun hal tersebut sangat berbeda dengan konotasi “musang”.

    2. Hati-hati dalam mengambil kutipan media massa, karena masing2 media massa mempunyai misi tertentu dan juga bisa memiliki muatan tertentu. Ada baiknya membaca berbagai sumber media dan menganalisis semuanya dengan pikiran yang kritis. Ada media-media tertentu yang memang lebih reliable daripada yang lainnya. Media massa sangat powerful dalam membentuk image, yang belum tentu semuanya menjamin image yang akurat 😉 Jadi, please hati2 dalam memilih sumber.

    3. Kalau bicara soal toleransi beragama, tentu harus melepaskan diri dari prasangka-prasangka, terutama melepaskan diri dari anggapan bahwa orang beragama lain semuanya kafir. Semua orang adalah sama di mata Tuhan.

    4. Bencana alam di Aceh adalah hal yang membutuhkan bantuan kemanusiaan dan merupakan kesempatan bagi dunia untuk bahu-membahu memfokuskan diri pada kegiatan sosial-kemanusiaan yang merupakan hal mulia, yang seringkali terlupakan dengan semua jargon-jargon fundamentalisme agama yang membuat kita melupakan esensi ajaran agama itu sendiri. Bagi saya, yang utama adalah perdamaian dan kemanusiaan. Saya beragama karena melihat kedua hal tersebut. Sayang sekali pendalaman yang superficial terhadap agama dapat membutakan manusia terhadap kedua hal esensial tersebut.

    Agama tidak mengajarkan kita untuk menghujat orang lain, tidak mengajarkan kita untuk membunuh atau membuat orang lain menderita, melainkan mengajarkan kita untuk menyebarkan ide-ide kemanusiaan dan perdamaian dunia. Inilah dasar toleransi agama.

    5. Kehendak Tuhan selalu terjadi. Saya setuju. Tetapi yang manakah yang disebut sebagai “Kehendak Tuhan”? Kehendak itu tidak selalu yang fisik tetapi juga yang simbolik. Seringkali otak manusia enggak sanggup memahami hal ini. Seringkali kita berakhir pada asumsi saja karena tidak sanggup memahami keseluruhannya yang amat agung.

    6. Kenapa Mas Hendri pikir mbak’e yang posting blog di http://www.indrani.net ini beragama Kristen? Saya jadi tersenyum melihatnya, di tengah membaca postingan Mas Hendri yang pahit. Ini sebaiknya menjadi pelajaran bagi Mas Hendri, sebaiknya jangan buru2 mengambil kesimpulan hanya menilai dari permukaan saja, nanti yang terambil bukan intinya. Asumsi Mas Hendri yang satu ini semakin membuyarkan pondasi argumen Mas Hendri lho, jangan2 semua argumennya sejak awal hanya asumsi tanpa dikonfirmasi nilai kebenarannya.

    Saya sangat menghormati Mbak Rani dan Indi dan juga agama yang mereka anut. Silakan saja tebak agama mereka, yang jelas bukan Kristen.

    Seru bener Ran blogging nya… hehehe blog gw malah uda terbengkalai nih gak diupdate2. Ditunggu posting2 berikutnya.

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13. 

    January 21, 2005

    Rani

    Thank you all for the comments. I hope I can find time to respond to it later. As for clarification about myself, my religion, I don’t think it is important. Rita (her comment cited above) and Boy have given their facts about me in their comments and website, hence I do not need to give further claim on that.

    Please note the following:

    About The Deleted Comment Above:The comment was deleted BECAUSE IT WAS DUPLICATE COMMENT from Hendri Sjahrial, and THE CONTENT WAS THE SAME. It was not an attempt to censor free speech. I’d reiterate, I welcome comments on my blog, as long as it is not SPAM COMMENT.

    About Anonymous Comments:I would like to also encourage you all NOT TO POST COMMENT ANONYMOUSLY. I enabled anonymous comment so that all of you who are not registered in blogger can still give your comments. However PLEASE SIGN YOUR COMMENT WITH YOUR NAME and not leave it as anonymous. Being anonymous is a sign that you are not interested in discussion, or am unable to respond for response coming from me or other people. Hence this is also an encouragement to all reader to NOT TAKE ANONYMOUS COMMENT SERIOUSLY, because no interest has been put for an open dialogue.

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14. 

    January 21, 2005

    Anonymous

    Kita semua sudah tahu kalau masalah kepercayaan agama tak akan pernah selesai di perdebatkan. Anda semua orang berpendidikan kan? kuncinya janganlah selalu berusaha untuk mempertentangkannya. Jangankan kita yang mungkin masih awam pengetahuan tentang agama kita masing2, para pakar masing2 agama kalau bertemu dan berdebat juga enggak akan pernah kelar…Agama2 besar di bumi ini, Yahudi, Kristen dan Islam berasal dari Tuhan yang sama, Nabi2 yang sama dan wilayah yang sama pula. Cuma waktu yang berbeda, so, kenapa kita selalu buang2 energi; berusaha saling memepengaruhi, ingin menang sendiri? ingin bener sendiri?
    Masalah Aceh memang masalah bencana “alam” yang kebetulan mayoritas Muslim di Aceh. Tapi juga anda harus lihat di negara2 yang terkena tsunami lain yang bukan muslim juga banyak, jadi kenapa ada yang berusaha mengklaim ini hukuman bagi kaum tertentu?
    Bagi siapapun ini adalah peristiwa yang harus diambil hikmahnya, entah itu berupa hukuman, peringatan atau ujian. Adalah sempit fikiran kalau bencana itu anda kaitkan dengan ummat tertentu. Kemarin mereka, besok mungkin juga anda dan kaum anda yang terkena bencana, karena bencana tak pandang bulu! So, yang terbaik adalah mari kita ambil tindakan nyata, jangan hanya berdebat kusir saja tanpa jelas apa yang dimaksud. Karena walau kita ini ngaku orang pinter, berpendidikan, kadang juga enggak semua bidang kita fahami dengan baik… jadi janganlah menarik kesimpulan sebelum kepastian!
    Aceh dan wilayah lain memerlukan bantuan anda…! Sekali lagi gunakan kepintaran akal dan ketinggian pendidikan anda dengan nyata!
    Avesena, Turkey

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15. 

    January 22, 2005

    Hendri Syahrial

    saya tidak akan membahas lagi masalah yang berkaitan dengan hal-hal keagamaan. karena gak bakalan ada selesainya. masalah agama membutuhkan pengetahuan yang mendalam dan bidang ilmu tersendiri. bakalan jadi lucu jika argumen tentang agama dilontarkan oleh orang-orang yang bukan ahli dalam bidangnya, nanti bisa jadi seperti mas Roy, hi Roy! 🙂

    memang ada banyak argumen yang harus saya kritisi lagi, mungkin nanti insya Allah jika sudah punya waktu yang banyak.

    buat mbak Rani, aku sangat menyesal telah salah paham, dan aku minta maaf. mohon dima’afken yoo ? 🙂 seperti yang aku tulis di blognya mas avianto, ‘kebawa emosi’ sehingga dengan waktu ngenet yang sedikit karena harus hemat2 duit (misi ke warnet cuma buat cari data) jadi gak baca secara mendalam lagi. sekali lagi mohon maaf udah nyakitin perasaannya :), juga buat mbak2 yang lainnya..

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16. 

    January 23, 2005

    Anonymous

    to Hendri sjahrial : tulisan anda penuh dengan emosi, argumen anda cukup menarik, hanya saja anda tidak menuliskan fakta-fakta yang mendukung argumen anda – terkesan seperti orang yang mengamuk.

    saya cuma ingin menegaskan bahwa hampir semua yang berpendapat disini terperangkap dalam kesalahan berpikir dan ego masing-masing. saya tidak menemukan argumen yang didukung oleh fakta yang bagus. just personal opinion yang sangat subjektif.

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