Yesterday’s attack on a church in Yogyakarta province once again raised concerns about the rise of religious intolerance in Indonesia, but one woman’s response to the attack speaks volumes for Indonesia’s “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (Unity in Diversity) national motto and as a reminder that the actions of an extreme few do not represent the tolerant majority.
A photo that has gone viral on social media today shows a woman wearing a hijab sweeping the floor below a decapitated statue of Jesus in St. Lidwina Bedog Church in the town of Sleman. The church was the scene of a horrific attack yesterday morning, during which a sword-wielding man barged in during Sunday Mass, attacking and seriously wounding four people and destroying books and statues.
According to the post above, which was shared on local community page Info Cegatan Jogja, the woman was one of several residents of the area who volunteered to clean up the church following the attack regardless of their religious faiths. Her identity is still unknown.
While she may be nameless for the time being, the woman is being touted by many as representing the true face of Indonesia.
“Our blood is red. Our bones are white. We are all one from Sabang to Merauke,” wrote one commenter in the post above.
“Thank you ma’am. The above photo can open the eyes of all Yogyakartans, Indonesians, and even citizens of the world that the people of Yogya cannot be pitted against one another,” wrote another.
The attacker, who has been identified as a university student in his 20s, is reportedly in critical condition after he was shot by police while resisting arrest at the church yesterday. The police have yet to classify the attack as an act of terrorism.
While majority Muslim, Indonesia is home to significant numbers of Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists.
In 2016, several children were injured after a man threw Molotov cocktails at a church during a Sunday service.
On Christmas Eve 2000, the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group staged coordinated bombings of churches in Jakarta and eight other cities that killed 18 people and injured many more. One of Indonesia’s greatest heroes for tolerance, a Muslim youth named Riyanto, was among the people killed when he sacrificed himself to save a church filled with people who followed a different faith to his own.