State Management of Religion in Indonesia by Myengkyo Seo

Author:Myengkyo Seo [Seo, Myengkyo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781135037383
Google: GWEdAAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-07-18T05:48:47+00:00

Photo 4.1 Religious frontiers: GKJ church of Joyodiningratan standing alongside Mosque Al-Hikmah in Surakarta, Central Java

It was the Chinese who formed the first Christian community [jemaat] here, naming it jemaat Danukusuman (an area not far from its current location) … church membership had continued to increase as it accepted both Chinese and Javanese. Later, a group of Chinese formed their own community independent from jemaat Danukusuman … The Javanese who had used a primary school classroom as the place of worship were now in need of a larger place as they saw an increase in members. Joyodiningratan, a 1, 500-square-meter site, was empty at the time, owned by a Haji [a Muslim who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca]. He eventually agreed to sell the land to the Christians on one condition, that they leave 200 square meters for building a mosque in the future … in 1927, the Christian purchased the land at 75 golden belanda [colonial Dutch currency] … the church was then constructed in 1939 … and the mosque was built in 1947.

It is a living reality that these two houses of worship share this plot of land without parting it. The building in the middle of Photo 4.2 is the office for the GKJ pendeta, and the one on the right is a part of the mosque. Pendeta Widiatmo emphasized the religio-political reality of Java, adding that “we [the church and the mosque] have to live together or learn to live together as we are born to be together … we are only two meters apart … we have made every effort to establish a mutually beneficial partnership.”

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