Link,

We got up this morning (Christmas Day, despite what the U.S.-based "date stamp" will say) to the news of the church bombings in Indonesia. I hope and pray that you and those you are close to are all right. And I hope and pray that the Christians there will "turn the other cheek" and not provoke further escalation in the religious tensions there.

Have a joyous and blessed Christmas.

-- Anonymous, December 24, 2000

Answers

Link

we were looking for a short wave radio station in your area but we are not sure what Island you are in or even what city you are in.

is there a short wave radio station that you listen to or that broadcasts in your area?

prayers for you and your congregation Dan

-- Anonymous, December 26, 2000

Dan,

I found the following, posted by Link in the "Tongues of Fire" thread shortly AFTER I posted my original message, above. By the way, according to news we heard here a couple of days ago, police found a large number of unexploded bombs in Medan, which Link mentions in his message.

--------------------------

I'm off to the Medan area tomorrow (Thursday Dec. 21) until around the end of the first week of January. 'Selamat Natal' (Merry Christmas) and 'Selamat Tahun Baru' (Happy New Year.) Chances are slim that I will be able to post from the mountain villages I'll be in. I plan to visit my wife's parents, and other relatives who live out in villages. I may go to Lake Tobah. That's pretty cool for the tropics, I hear, but no snow.

God bless you all,

Link

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2000

Hi,

Thanks for the concern and for the prayer for me and all the Christians here in Indonesia. I just got off the boat (Americans have difficulty conceiving of the conditions on these ships) and am thankful to be home.

Many of the churches bombed were Roman Catholic- bombed right before midnight on Christmas! Some churches which are similar to Lutheran chruches were bombed, and a few others. The terrorists hit big church buildings. I don't think they bombed any rented hotels or storefronts, etc. People got injured or killed. My wife and I were sleepy when we saw this onthe news late at night. We prayed that the Lord would make the churches find all the other bombs. I think about 18 went off across cities in the nation. Churches found another 11. As best I can tell, after my wife and I prayed that, no more bombes went off. Praise God for answering prayer. We heard later that the churches starting contacting each other and warning not to open packages delievered to them.

Late last year when there was a lot of press about catching the notorious Tommy Soeharto, the former presidents billionare son, the stock exchange building and the Philipine embassy was bombed. There was a lot of press about it again, and churches were bombed. Tommy (Tomi?) was sentenced to over a year, and refused to go to jail unless he got a written notice from the president turning down his request for a pardon. They his lawyer claimed he hadn't seen the notice. Then he went into hiding. They say part of the military protects him and the other members of the family of former president Soeharto, who controlled the country for about 32 years before stepping down in response to a public outcry during the time of the 1998 May riots.

There was also a bombing earlier last year where a group claimed to be trying to start a religious war like the one in Ambon.

Some Muslims were afraid to go to the mosque around Christmas. The day after Christmas was the end of their biggest fasting month. The 26th and 27th wer etheir biggest holidays. Christians didn't bomb their mosques, and a Muslim leader even did a commercial promoting peace and telling people to turn the other cheek- Christian teaching.

Link

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2001

Dear friends, I am a chinese catholic from Indonesia, I am seeking an asylum in the USA. But since the Indonesian government seems restricted the news to go outside from Indonesia, I have difficulties to collect materials for my Asylum case. I would like to know if you have some material for me to be provided in the court (like pictures, datas, links, films, etc). I have been working in this case almost 18 months now...and still nothing :(. Thank you so much and God bless you all. (p.s. am sorry for my English)

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

I do not know how much this will help for an asylum case, but a site that has a lot of useful information is http://www.usvisanews.com/

There may be a link or two that will be helpful.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

I have a friend who used to live here whose an American. Hiswife is Chinese, and he says a he knows a lawyer in LA that has gotten Indonesians assylum in the US. He charges about a thousand dollars.

My friend's wife answers their email, and she almost never responds to my emails. I think they are busy. So don't hold your breath. But you could email them and asking about their lawyer. I'll email you my friends email address. My friend at the email address took some disgusting pictures of mutilated bodies after the riots of '98. The bodies had been cleaned up a few hours later when he went back at dawn.

You might be able to get assylum undedre US regulations if you have a good attorney. Unless you live in Ambon, or some other hot spots, your life may not be in danger over hear- unless some Muslim organization has targetted you or something like that. But you can probably still get a green card with the right attorney. I don't know if judges are still givin them out to Indonesians, since it's been a while since the riots.

My wife is half Chinese. My friend suggested when I go to the US, just trying to get her an assylum greencard from a judge, if I wanted to pay the extra money, which would cut out the two year wait we'd have to go through since she is my wife. Doesn't make much sense, does it?

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001