Translated from the French by Llewellyn Brown
The Indonesian defenders of Israel (first of two parts) (info # 022212/9 EV) [analysis]
By Stéphane Juffa and Ilan Tsadik © Metula News Agency
“Defenders of Israel”, ready without hesitation to die for us, living in Indonesia, the largest archipelago on Earth, and the most populous Muslim states: this is our scoop of the day.
Two of us, Ilan Tsadik and I, have been working on this subject for four months to make sure that they are not a dozen eccentrics torn between the desire to be known and the need to be interned in an institution for the mentally disturbed.
It is not the case. We interviewed by writing and orally over twenty members whom we call the “organization” in the transcript that follows – a more modest way of characterizing the adepts of the Israel Center in Indonesia.
Two are not members but know of its existence. And only four of the twenty-one people we interviewed know each other. There is no doubt, the “organization” matches the size of this country of 245 million human beings – it has thousands, and more likely tens of thousands of members.
More importantly, it has earned the sympathy of two million members of the Menasha Nation, and that of the balance of the twenty-eight million Christians in Indonesia, who are hardly less persuaded in favor of Israel.
Unlike other people close to Israel in Africa and Asia, and despite their Jewish-sounding name, the Menasha do not claim to be descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. They assert themselves as Christians who have chosen the side of Israel.
Among the responses we received, we chose to publish those of Vicky Worotitjan because they correctly represent the majority and the spirit of the remarkably homogenous responses we have collected – we did not find anyone exalted in the “organization”.
Vicky is probably one of the leaders, at least from the spiritual point of view. But the Indonesian association of friends of Israel remains discreet about the identity of its leaders as well as about the number of its affiliates, since it certainly does not wish the regime in Jakarta – which currently leaves them in peace – to interfere.
In this respect the Minassians’ testimony is instructive: according to what all of them report, in the Christian provinces at least, the regime is not as totalitarian and violent as the West imagines especially after the Timor conflict.
It also seems that people can easily follow a “European life-style” in the province of North Sulawesi. Photographs and testimonies that we have collected, and that we will publish in other articles, reflect an urban setting and lifestyle similar to ours, with the lush flora to boot.
We could talk for hours about the very strong impression our “brothers” in Indonesia have made on us, as they have surprised us in all respects, since they have asked us to make their existence known to Israelis, Jews, Christians and friends of Israel.
Their level of scholarship, their knowledge of world geopolitics in general and of the Arab-Israeli conflict has astonished us.
But more importantly, their main project to begin the building of a public library dedicated to Israel amazes us and gives us goose bumps. Ask for books and stories of friendship – and nothing else – from Mena readers? Nothing could have touched us more, as sons of the “Nation of the book”, whose the foreskin is cut off to celebrate the Brit Mila, “the alliance of the verb”.
Send them books – many, and good ones, and cheerfully – to the address they mention [in the second part of this article. Editor’s note.]: they will serve to promote our culture. They will become your mark on their minds, in the largest Muslim country in the world. The defenders of Israel in Manado have requested this.
Stéphane Juffa
INTERVIEW
Mena: In recent months, our news agency has received dozens of messages of sympathy for Israel and the Jewish people, from people living in Indonesia. You Vicky, appear on numerous websites as a declared supporter of Israel.
Who are you? Over here, particularly on hearing the speeches of members of your government, we thought your country was violently anti-Israeli.
Vicky: My name is Vicky Worotitjan (his Facebook page). I belong to the people of Menasha. The Minassians are 100% Christian and we have influence in Indonesia. The Minassians are considered to be staunchly Christian and do not fear radical Islam. The Minassians are known to be supporters of Israel and of the United States, but they are also known for their Western lifestyle and for having been educated people ever since the Dutch colonization.
Certainly, our country (Indonesia) is violently opposed to Israel, particularly since the PKS radical Islamic party (the Prosperous Justice Party) won 8% of the vote in recent elections. The anti-Israeli actions have been organized by the PKS.
Mena: How many Christians and Muslims live in Indonesia?
Vicky: Indonesia has 245 million inhabitants; almost 30 million of them are Christians, including 2 million Minassians.
Mena: In your city of Manado, a Minassian bastion, what are the proportions of Christians and Muslims? What is the total number of people in Manado?
Vicky: 60% are Christian and 40% Muslim. Manado is the capital of the province of North Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara in Indonesian). The total population of the city is 500,000. But the 40% of Muslims are not Minassians – they are foreigners, immigrants. Manado is surrounded by hundreds of villages and dozens of cities, whose population is 97% Christian.
Mena: Is your (pro-Israeli) group organized or mostly based on individual initiative?
Vicky: We are organized.
Mena: Is your sympathy for the State of Israel or for the Jewish religion?
Vicky: For the State of Israel.
Mena: We received on our Facebook a photograph of a synagogue. Do you feel Jewish?
Vicky: No.
Mena: How many synagogues are there in Indonesia? When were they built? By whom? Is there a Jewish community in Indonesia? How many members does it have?
Other Minassians have embraced the Jewish religion
Here, one of the Jewish communities in the region of Manado
Vicky: There are two synagogues in all. One is in Surabaya, built during the Dutch period, the other in Tondano (Manado), built in 2001 by Y. Baruch (a practicing Israelite who settled in the region). There were older Jews, but I cannot tell you how many there are today.
Mena: Do you have rabbis?
Vicky: No.
Mena: Do you follow the Jewish liturgy?
Vicky: No.
Mena: How many Indonesians do you think feel sympathy for the State of Israel?
Vicky: 100% of Christians feel this sympathy. 1% of them – 300 000 – express great sympathy for the State of Israel. If you were to conduct an opinion poll, asking people to choose between Arab states and Israel, I assure you that 100% of Indonesian Christians would choose Israel.
Mena: What is the composition of your organization?
Vicky: We are all Indonesians: 80% Minassians and 20% non-Minassians.
Mena: In which city is your organization active?
Vicky: Only in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi.
Mena: Are you all Christians in your organization or are there also Muslims?
Vicky: We are all Christians, none of us are Muslims.
Mena: Is your sympathy for Israel a reaction to Muslim rule in Indonesia?
Vicky: No. Our sympathy for Israel stems from what we Christians know of Israel, Jews, and Jerusalem in the Bible. We learn it from childhood, which is why we feel emotionally close to you.
Mena: Do you fear the reaction of the regime or of the Muslims for your very strong support for Israel?
Vicky: No, they do not bother us here.
Mena: Have you or your organization already suffered acts of repression on behalf of the regime?
Vicky: No, because our organization is active in a Christian province.
Mena: Have members of your organization been beaten? Arrested?
Vicky: No.
Mena: What does the regime think of your organization? Of people like you?
Vicky: So far, we have suffered no criticism that I know of, because we are in a Christian area, far from the bastions of the regime.
Mena: Are you afraid?
Vicky: No, I’m not afraid.
Mena: Do you meet face-to-face with other members of your organization? Where? How often? Openly?
Vicky: Yes. In Manado, our capital, each quarter, very publicly.
Mena: Is your movement growing or is the number of its members stable?
Vicky: Oh yes, spreading like wild fire!
Mena: When was your organization founded?
Vicky: A year ago, during the Gaza War, in December 28, 2008.
Mena: Do you maintain contacts with Israelis? With Jews? Has an Israeli or a Jew already visited you or your organization in Indonesia?
Vicky: No.
Mena: Have you ever seen an Israeli or a Jew face to face?
Vicky: No, I have never seen a Jew or an Israeli in person.
To be continued...
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