The latest Muslim-Christian bloodshed in Indonesia could hinder plans to build a Methodist hospital in Sumatra by making would-be donors shy away from investing in the strife-ridden country, according to the Rev. Dr. Robert Howerton of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM).

Indonesia's worst violence in months erupted last week in remote Maluku province, where at least 50 people were killed as Muslim and Christian mobs clashed on the islands of Ambon, Sanan, and Seram. Part of the Mollucas, known in Dutch colonial times as the Spice Islands, the islands lie about 1,400 miles northeast of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital.

The violence was the country's single worst outbreak since the riots in May that left over 1,000 dead and drove former President Suharto from office after three decades of autocratic rule. Indonesian authorities are still hard pressed to contain the country's outbreaks of disorder, and President B. J. Habibie's pleas for restraint have been ignored.

The local population in Ambon is divided evenly between Christians and Muslims. But relations grew tense between the two after Muslims in Jakarta attacked Ambonese Christians there last November. Thirteen people were killed.

Besides the 50 deaths last week in the Mollucas, hundreds were injured, and homes, mosques, churches, and other buildings were burned. In addition, the fighting forced the evacuation of 40 foreigners working for a Christian organization based in Ambon. The group included 20 Americans and 11 Britons. They were flown to Australia.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, fell in response to news of the Maluku violence and the prospect this week of yet another wave of antigovernment protests by students in Jakarta. The students are expected to resume their antigovernment protests in the capital after a month of quiet during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The students had held protests almost daily until mid-December. They called for quicker political reform, an end to the military's political influence, and a trial of the disgraced Suharto for alleged corruption and human rights abuses during his 32 years in power.

Indonesia has been beset for the past year with waves of religious, ethnic, and political unrest, as it struggles with its worst economic crisis and political ferment in three decades. Thus far, Methodists in Indonesia have not been harmed directly by the country's unrest, said Dr. David C. Wu, Assistant General Secretary for Connectional Relations at GBGM.

With 202 million people on its sprawling archipelago, Indonesia has the world's fourth-largest population, 90 percent of whom are Muslim. The Methodist church in Indonesia, Gereja Methodist Indonesia (GMI), headquartered in Medan on Northern Sumatra, wants to build a 250-bed teaching hospital over the next two years in Medan.

Methodist Health Care System of Memphis, Tennessee, has agreed to furnish the medical equipment. The proposed Methodist hospital would serve the existing Methodist Medical School, a branch of the Methodist University in Medan. The construction bill would probably run about $500,000, Howerton said, and GMI plans to raise the money. But the donated medical equipment would probably be valued at several million dollars.

So far, there have been no hints of a withdrawal of support for the Sumatra hospital project, said Howerton, but persistent unrest could discourage prospective donors from investing. "The violence and disruption in Indonesia certainly could have an impact on the building of the new Methodist hospital in Sumatra, because it will discourage people in the United States and other places around the world from making contributions of resources and equipment."

"I would think that there'd have to be a certain calmness in the country," added Howerton, "before a lot of people in the United States or other places in the world would be willing to make contributions for investment in hospitals and in hospital equipment. They might withhold resources or at least keep them in this country until such time as it is safe to send resources to Indonesia. It will make it more difficult for the church to obtain resources to build a hospital."

Sources: AP, Reuters, CNN, BBC.

January 26, 1999