Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Medan (Agenzia Fides) – God can turn an evil into good. From a tragedy can come hope and new life. This is the message that the Province of Banda Aceh (North Sumatra Island), destroyed by the tsunami in 2004, offers to Haiti, hit by the earthquake of January 12. According to official figures, in Haiti there are 112,000 dead, 196,000 wounded, and 2 million people in need of basic humanitarian assistance, including 200,000 orphans.
In Aceh, the tsunami of December 2004 devastated the area, leaving 160,000 dead and over 500,000 displaced persons, flattening entire towns and villages. Aceh, was called a "renegade province", a place of terrorists and separatist movements. It is the Indonesian province that since 2002 has enforced the Sharia law, which concerns non-Muslims. Five years after the disaster, today Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, is the symbol of "the triumph over the tsunami,” a place with a high quality of life, with inter-religious harmony, and where "there has been a rebirth that offers hope to the world, especially to the people of Haiti," Archbishop Antonius Sinaga, OFM Cap of Medan tells Fides. Medan is the main city of North Sumatra. He says the tsunami was the impetus for a new beginning.
Archbishop Sinaga tells Fides: "People today are very open, humanly and socially speaking. Banda Aceh has become an international city and from the tragedy of the tsunami a very different city, socially speaking, has emerged. There is great gratitude for the aid that came in from other countries, especially from the United States and European countries, the so-called 'Christian countries', which enabled them to rebuild more than 140,000 homes."
Thanks to the aid, a total value of over $ 6.7 billion, as many as 1,700 schools, 996 public buildings, 36 airports and ports, 3,800 mosques, 363 bridges, and over 20,000 km of roads were built. "It is understandable why today the citizens of donor countries are called friends or even brothers," notes the Archbishop.
"The improvement is significant: the city has pacified at all levels. There are no social nor inter-religious tensions, and the political climate is very favorable. The social and economic welfare is higher than in other areas of Sumatra," continues the Prelate.
"Christians live freely and in peace. The Catholic Church has established a good relationship with the government and the civil authorities, in a climate of dialogue and peaceful confrontation. Even relations with local Muslim leaders are good," said the Archbishop, reassuring even on another point: the Sharia.
"The Islamic law, in force in the Province, is not a problem. The authorities, the media, and the courts have been saying that it applies to Muslim citizens and that believers of other religions can live freely. It must be said that this is very clear on the official level, while at the popular level - especially in remote villages and cultural traditionalists, which have not been in contact with modernity - the situation is more difficult and there are restrictions that sometimes cause problems for the population.
Thus, some groups working for human rights, such as the Indonesian NGO "Kontras," denounced "the violation of human rights and the Indonesian government legislation itself, in the application of punishments under Sharia law."
"Despite everything, the overall social conditions of the population and of Christians (4,000 faithful out of a population of about 3.5 million people in Aceh) have improved considerably,” the Archbishop emphasizes. “And there is hope for the future. Certainly, the Catholic Church is not authorized to create new social institutions, like schools and hospitals, but hopes are growing. As for our intention to open a clinic in Aceh, the governor has told us to support this project although he intends to revisit it at a time when the social and cultural climate in Aceh would permit it. I think that moment is approaching," says Archbishop Sinaga. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 9/2/2010)
