ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jember, East Java, Fri, 01/02/2009 10:30 AM, Java Brew
Adhu Yesus Alla kasokan se toron, Rabu e alam dunya karsa merokon, Enggi e antarana reng-oreng se odhi, Jugan kaula neka ampon e tembeli.
(Jesus came to earth, Earth and nature received peace, This was felt by all humankind, Who have been forgiven their sins.)
The theme of this hymn is the birth of Jesus Christ. Madurese congregants sang it during Christmas Eve services this year at the East Java Christian Church (GKJW) Sumberpakem in the town of Jember.
Dozens of people who attended the service joined in the singing to express their thankfulness to God.
"Ampon kaula ngartetresna panjenengan, paneka sengatore ajunan sampiyan (I've felt love from Jesus, and all this happened because of the will of God)." Pastor Sapto Wardoyo spoke these words in Madurese during the service.
The GKJW Sumberpakem church in Sumber Jambe subdistrict, 35 kilometers from the city of Jember, is different from other churches in Indonesia because services are held in three languages: Indonesian, Javanese and Madurese.
Even the Bible they use, called Alketab, is a special Madurese edition.
"We use this Bible to be sure everyone understands its teachings," Sapto said.
Madurese has been used in the church continuously for more than 120 years.
J.D. Wollterbeek wrote in his Babad Zending Ing Tanah Djawa (Spreading the Bible in the land of Java) that the arrival of the Christian missionary Dr. Esser to Sumberpakem was what started it all.
Esser already spoke Madurese and Javanese fluently because he had studied both in Surakarta (Solo) in Central Java.
The Dutch pastor successfully joined forces with a Madurese man named Ebing who became a faithful follower. Ebing was the first Jember resident to be baptized a Christian on July 23, 1882.
Esser and Ebing conducted services in that area for more than seven years, but during that time neither had any success in Christianizing even one person.
"Esser got frustrated and moved his church to Bondowoso, about 35 kilometers from Sumberpakem," Sapto said.
Though Esser continued his missionary work, he later wrote he thought he had failed to make any headway in Bondowoso as well. Esser went back to Holland in 1889 and a second pastor, H. Van Der Spiegel, came to replace him.
The situation did not change, and several pastors arrived in rapid succession. Van Der Spiegel was replaced by P. A. Otto Lander in 1890. H. Dekker arrived in 1891, then H. Hendrik filled the post between 1897 and 1908.
"Pastor Hendrik lasted the longest and was the most successful," Sapto said.
Though he successfully converted some in the community, Handrik's presence in Sumberpakem led to unrest. One day a mob burned down his house and the church which had been erected in Slateng under his guidance.
Since then, no more Dutch missionaries have come to Jember or the surrounding area. After 1908 the mission entrusted its responsibilities to Ebing and his son Sulaiman.
Ebing continued the work and found his more familiar preaching style helped make the Christian religion more acceptable to the community. Ebing continued to preach in Madurese to be sure his messages were easy to understand by the Maduranese who had settled there.
"The efforts of Ebing and his son Sulaiman helped Christian teaching in Sumberpakem and Slateng to increase sharply," Sapto said.
The sharpest increase in followers came about from external circumstances. After the Sep. 30, 1965 coup attempt in the capital which led to Sukarno's ouster, violence erupted in other areas of the country, particularly in Central Java. In the area around Jember, Communist supporters and non-Communists traded violent attacks in the days following the coup.
At the time, Jember was a base for groups hostile to Communism. Frightened members of the Communist party (PKI) became Christians on the spot and joined the church congregation.
"Later, when the situation returned to normal, Christian adherents in Sumberpakem numbered no more than a hundred people," Sapto said.
Back to his minority status after the upheaval, the Maduranese church continued to serve its community.
Another Indonesian pastor, Alphius, took up the baton from Ebing and Sulaiman in 1972. The current pastor Sapto Wardoyo, who graduated from the Protestant Theology Institute in Malang, East Java, took over from Kukuh Supitono in 2002.
Sapto said he considered his coming to Sumberpakem to be a challenge from God to further Dr. Esser's missionary efforts that had begun in the 1880s.
Spreading Christianity in the middle of Jember, where the majority of residents are Muslims, was a daunting challenge, but working in Madurese helped Sapto.
"I had to learn the Madurese language to be able to run my mission here," Sapto recalled.
Studying Madurese culture was Sapto's first task, which was not easy for the father of two who was born in Yogyakarta.
Things changed when he moved to Situbondo, 70 km from Jember, a focal point for Maduranese culture.
"The culture in Situbondo is special because it has a very high tolerance level," he said.
That tolerance made it possible for him to get to know Muslim teachers and leaders of Islamic boarding schools in the area.
His study of the language and culture took many years; while he studied, he appointed Madurese advisers to supervise him whenever he gave sermons in that language.
He asked the two advisors, both from Sumberpakem, to correct his pronunciation and delivery.
"This was crucial. Even though a person can speak Madurese, the language used in the church has to be rendered softly," Sapto said.
His careful efforts eventually bore fruit. After six years, Sapto is fluent in Madurese.
Developing a local way to convey Christian teachings has its lighter side. Sapto relies on special local Christmas trees.
"The Christmas tree sends a message of joy and stands for the strength of the Christian faith. These ideas can be represented by any kind of tree, even these coconut palms and banana trees."
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Johan Budhie Sava: Taking books across the county
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya, Fri, 01/02/2009 10:30 AM, People
After opening 17 bookstores across Java and Bali, Johan Budhie Sava was at a loss for words when asked about his next plan.
After a brief silence but with a determined look, he said he wants books to be spread out evenly throughout the country, from Aceh to Papua.
"Maybe this will not be easy, but I'll try," said the 44-year-old man.
Eighteen years ago, when Johan opened his first Togamas bookshop in Malang, East Java, he never thought his business would grow this large.
It was not his intention to open stores across the island when he opened his first in his wife's parents' house back in 1990. It was a desperate measure to continue to make a living.
Swandayani's parents also loaned him the capital of 35 million (US$3,200).
"At that time, the only thing in my mind was how to sell books for food," he remembered.
Besides looking after his own bookshop, Johan did not forget "to glance to the left and the right" at his Malang competitors.
That was simple. He only needed to check out how many vehicles were parked in front of his competitors' bookshops.
"If there were large numbers of motorcycles and cars parked there, it meant that I had to think hard to look for new and creative ways to attract customers," laughed the father of two children, Bayu Dharma Saputra Sava and Aditya Dharma Putra.
Good fortune was on his side.
Eight years later, in 1998, he won a car from a lottery at a private bank. He sold the station wagon, using the money for a down payment on a building not far from his original shop.
Unfortunately, when the buying and selling contracts were signed, the Rp 70 million from the car was not enough.
"I was confused. Fortunately I had a relative who lent me money," he said.
Soon, another bookshop opened.
As he was close to lecturers and university students, his inventory focused on books used by university students, especially those from the schools of economics, technology, politics and medicine.
He also met with the lecturers to determine what sorts of books they needed most.
The winds of luck kept blowing.
His relationship with motivator Tung Dasem Waringin and the Indonesian University lecturer Amir Abadi provided a breakthrough when he opened a Togamas branch in Yogyakarta in 1999.
Over the next few years, Johan opened more stores. These were in Semarang, Central Java, in 2001; the East Java town of Jember in 2002 and its capital city Surabaya in 2004; the West Java capital city Bandung and Bali capital city Denpasar -- both in 2007.
This year, he opened up a Togamas in Jakarta, Surabaya saw its second store, and another opened in Kediri, East Java.
Next year, he plans to set up shop in the East Java towns of Probolinggo, Mojokerto, Blitar and Banyuwangi.
This means 17 bookshops will have been come into existence in the past 18 years.
With such a busy business, is running bookshops profitable? Not really, he said.
Although he calculates that there is still a market of 93 percent of the country's population that hasn't touched books, the loss in this business is big.
In Yogyakarta alone, Johan and his colleagues recently suffered losses of up to Rp 600 million.
Meanwhile in Surabaya, the man who graduated from Surabaya Narotama University's agriculture and management faculties, lost Rp 3 billion in only eight months.
"Profit and loss come and go in the book business. The important thing is to keep running and to show positive progress."
His convictions have also driven Johan to widen his range to Timika, Papua, as he is thinking hard about opening one in Papua.
The idea came after he found out the province is still using a 1978 curriculum.
"It (the curriculum) is so different (from the one) in Java or Bali. It's difficult to get books in Papua because the book distribution system doesn't extend there. Consequently, the education system in Papua has been left far behind."
Additionally, Johan also supports the government's efforts to give free books through the Electronic School Book program, or BSE.
For some, the program can be seen as indirectly killing the book printing and publishing business. But not for Johan.
"Don't forget, books correlate to an increase in intellectual efforts. The more the intellectual ability of Indonesian citizens is improved through the program, the larger the book markets become, so the program has to be supported."
The program is a necessity. Indonesians should be forced to follow existing global developments or the country will be left far behind other countries, he said.
"At present, the development of advanced countries such as the United States can be noticed ...."
Johan is practicing this philosophy with his family. His two children who are now in junior high school and elementary school, and are well used to reading books and looking for information on the Internet.
What they discover intellectually has later on been used to broaden his children's ways of thinking.
"When one of my in-laws was sick, my children searched the Internet and discovered the disease's worst symptoms which my in-law was suffering," he said, as an example.
Johan realizes that his convictions might be too idealistic for some but he insisted that those in the book business need to be idealistic -- a big profit is hard to come by.
After being in the business for 18 years, Johan still lives in his house in Malang.
"If there are businesspeople who want to join me but ask for a big profit, it's better that I reject their offers because the book business is actually not like that," he said.
After opening 17 bookstores across Java and Bali, Johan Budhie Sava was at a loss for words when asked about his next plan.
After a brief silence but with a determined look, he said he wants books to be spread out evenly throughout the country, from Aceh to Papua.
"Maybe this will not be easy, but I'll try," said the 44-year-old man.
Eighteen years ago, when Johan opened his first Togamas bookshop in Malang, East Java, he never thought his business would grow this large.
It was not his intention to open stores across the island when he opened his first in his wife's parents' house back in 1990. It was a desperate measure to continue to make a living.
Swandayani's parents also loaned him the capital of 35 million (US$3,200).
"At that time, the only thing in my mind was how to sell books for food," he remembered.
Besides looking after his own bookshop, Johan did not forget "to glance to the left and the right" at his Malang competitors.
That was simple. He only needed to check out how many vehicles were parked in front of his competitors' bookshops.
"If there were large numbers of motorcycles and cars parked there, it meant that I had to think hard to look for new and creative ways to attract customers," laughed the father of two children, Bayu Dharma Saputra Sava and Aditya Dharma Putra.
Good fortune was on his side.
Eight years later, in 1998, he won a car from a lottery at a private bank. He sold the station wagon, using the money for a down payment on a building not far from his original shop.
Unfortunately, when the buying and selling contracts were signed, the Rp 70 million from the car was not enough.
"I was confused. Fortunately I had a relative who lent me money," he said.
Soon, another bookshop opened.
As he was close to lecturers and university students, his inventory focused on books used by university students, especially those from the schools of economics, technology, politics and medicine.
He also met with the lecturers to determine what sorts of books they needed most.
The winds of luck kept blowing.
His relationship with motivator Tung Dasem Waringin and the Indonesian University lecturer Amir Abadi provided a breakthrough when he opened a Togamas branch in Yogyakarta in 1999.
Over the next few years, Johan opened more stores. These were in Semarang, Central Java, in 2001; the East Java town of Jember in 2002 and its capital city Surabaya in 2004; the West Java capital city Bandung and Bali capital city Denpasar -- both in 2007.
This year, he opened up a Togamas in Jakarta, Surabaya saw its second store, and another opened in Kediri, East Java.
Next year, he plans to set up shop in the East Java towns of Probolinggo, Mojokerto, Blitar and Banyuwangi.
This means 17 bookshops will have been come into existence in the past 18 years.
With such a busy business, is running bookshops profitable? Not really, he said.
Although he calculates that there is still a market of 93 percent of the country's population that hasn't touched books, the loss in this business is big.
In Yogyakarta alone, Johan and his colleagues recently suffered losses of up to Rp 600 million.
Meanwhile in Surabaya, the man who graduated from Surabaya Narotama University's agriculture and management faculties, lost Rp 3 billion in only eight months.
"Profit and loss come and go in the book business. The important thing is to keep running and to show positive progress."
His convictions have also driven Johan to widen his range to Timika, Papua, as he is thinking hard about opening one in Papua.
The idea came after he found out the province is still using a 1978 curriculum.
"It (the curriculum) is so different (from the one) in Java or Bali. It's difficult to get books in Papua because the book distribution system doesn't extend there. Consequently, the education system in Papua has been left far behind."
Additionally, Johan also supports the government's efforts to give free books through the Electronic School Book program, or BSE.
For some, the program can be seen as indirectly killing the book printing and publishing business. But not for Johan.
"Don't forget, books correlate to an increase in intellectual efforts. The more the intellectual ability of Indonesian citizens is improved through the program, the larger the book markets become, so the program has to be supported."
The program is a necessity. Indonesians should be forced to follow existing global developments or the country will be left far behind other countries, he said.
"At present, the development of advanced countries such as the United States can be noticed ...."
Johan is practicing this philosophy with his family. His two children who are now in junior high school and elementary school, and are well used to reading books and looking for information on the Internet.
What they discover intellectually has later on been used to broaden his children's ways of thinking.
"When one of my in-laws was sick, my children searched the Internet and discovered the disease's worst symptoms which my in-law was suffering," he said, as an example.
Johan realizes that his convictions might be too idealistic for some but he insisted that those in the book business need to be idealistic -- a big profit is hard to come by.
After being in the business for 18 years, Johan still lives in his house in Malang.
"If there are businesspeople who want to join me but ask for a big profit, it's better that I reject their offers because the book business is actually not like that," he said.
LBH slams govt, Lapindo for sloppy response
ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya, Fri, 01/02/2009 10:28 AM, East Java
Surabaya Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has urged the Indonesian public to pressure the government and PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. energy company to seek an immediate resolution to unresolved Sidoarjo mudflow issues.
On Wednesday in an evaluation of the 2008 law and human rights issues, LBH Surabaya land and environment division head Faiq Assidiqi said both the government and Lapindo (owned by the Bakrie family) had failed to show strong political commitment to resolving the social aspects of the disaster, which had affected the livelihoods of thousands of Porong residents and had caused massive environmental damage.
The mudflow, caused by Lapindo's mining activities in May, 2006, had displaced dozens of families whose assets were destroyed and had also destroyed their sources of income. It had done irreparable damage to the environment and had destroyed dozens of factories where local residents were once employed.
Despite these impacts, however, the government and Lapindo had acted less than satisfactorily and had yet to provide comprehensive solutions to the issue, he said.
"It is apparently not enough for mudflow victims to stage protests at the disaster site, but the entire society should join forces to make the government and the energy company provide legal advocacy for the victims."
Faiq insisted that the mudflow victims had lost not only their assets but also their cultural environment and their ability to earn a living. Their children had been denied access to education and a healthy environment, he said.
LBH, which has provided legal advocacy for Lapindo victims since the time of the disaster, was disappointed with the government's handling of the issue and Lapindo's failure to provide compensation to victims, he said.
Faiq cited Presidential Instruction No. 14/2007 requiring Lapindo pay compensation to residents of four villages in the area, and a new instruction requiring the government pay compensation from the 2008 state budget to victims outside the disaster area, claiming both were unapplicable.
Minarak Lapindo Jaya, a subsidiary of Lapindo, has paid 20 percent of the agreed compensation amount to a large proportion of the victims, while a smaller group do not have required documentation of their damaged assets and have yet to receive anything.
"The deadline for the payment of the remaining 80 percent compensation passed last August -- it was suspended because of the global crisis," Faiq said.
Since the disaster, hundreds of victims have been living in temporary shelters in the Porong market building, stranded, and dozens of others have erected tents at the gateway to the Nirwana village housing compound (earmarked for the victims), but most had yet to receive housing as construction had been suspended because of the economic downturn, he said.
Previously, the National Human Rights Commission recommended the government relocate affected villagers by providing each with 500 square meters of land plus Rp 10 million in cash.
Faiq questioned police investigations into the mudflow disaster, saying that so far two Lapindo executives had been named suspect, but police had yet to report any progress in the case.
Faiq also questioned the resolution of the Alas Tlogo incident which claimed four human lives in Pasuruan in 2007, saying that so far only marines involved in the shooting had been brought to justice, but no compensation had been paid.
Surabaya Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has urged the Indonesian public to pressure the government and PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. energy company to seek an immediate resolution to unresolved Sidoarjo mudflow issues.
On Wednesday in an evaluation of the 2008 law and human rights issues, LBH Surabaya land and environment division head Faiq Assidiqi said both the government and Lapindo (owned by the Bakrie family) had failed to show strong political commitment to resolving the social aspects of the disaster, which had affected the livelihoods of thousands of Porong residents and had caused massive environmental damage.
The mudflow, caused by Lapindo's mining activities in May, 2006, had displaced dozens of families whose assets were destroyed and had also destroyed their sources of income. It had done irreparable damage to the environment and had destroyed dozens of factories where local residents were once employed.
Despite these impacts, however, the government and Lapindo had acted less than satisfactorily and had yet to provide comprehensive solutions to the issue, he said.
"It is apparently not enough for mudflow victims to stage protests at the disaster site, but the entire society should join forces to make the government and the energy company provide legal advocacy for the victims."
Faiq insisted that the mudflow victims had lost not only their assets but also their cultural environment and their ability to earn a living. Their children had been denied access to education and a healthy environment, he said.
LBH, which has provided legal advocacy for Lapindo victims since the time of the disaster, was disappointed with the government's handling of the issue and Lapindo's failure to provide compensation to victims, he said.
Faiq cited Presidential Instruction No. 14/2007 requiring Lapindo pay compensation to residents of four villages in the area, and a new instruction requiring the government pay compensation from the 2008 state budget to victims outside the disaster area, claiming both were unapplicable.
Minarak Lapindo Jaya, a subsidiary of Lapindo, has paid 20 percent of the agreed compensation amount to a large proportion of the victims, while a smaller group do not have required documentation of their damaged assets and have yet to receive anything.
"The deadline for the payment of the remaining 80 percent compensation passed last August -- it was suspended because of the global crisis," Faiq said.
Since the disaster, hundreds of victims have been living in temporary shelters in the Porong market building, stranded, and dozens of others have erected tents at the gateway to the Nirwana village housing compound (earmarked for the victims), but most had yet to receive housing as construction had been suspended because of the economic downturn, he said.
Previously, the National Human Rights Commission recommended the government relocate affected villagers by providing each with 500 square meters of land plus Rp 10 million in cash.
Faiq questioned police investigations into the mudflow disaster, saying that so far two Lapindo executives had been named suspect, but police had yet to report any progress in the case.
Faiq also questioned the resolution of the Alas Tlogo incident which claimed four human lives in Pasuruan in 2007, saying that so far only marines involved in the shooting had been brought to justice, but no compensation had been paid.
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