Since the conflict between Muslims and Christians first erupted in January 1999 in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, an estimated 10,000 lives have been lost and 700,000 people have fled from their homes. For three years, local issues and outside provocation combined forces to wreak havoc in the Malukus (also known as the Moluccas.)
The village of Duma on the island of Halmahera is one of many villages now taking the first tentative steps of recovery.
The history of the church in Duma traces back to the arrival of Hendrik Van Dijken in 1866. Local tribesman invited the Dutch missionary to the village. The people of Halmahera, deciding to test the power of the God Van Dijken represented, suggested he settle in Morodoku, an uninhabited area on the lake of Galela greatly feared by people in that region. The area was the land of the “Moro,” the primeval giant who was, according to legend, the ancestor and “lord” of the island.
Van Dijken accepted the challenge and did, in fact, encounter great difficulty. He was struck by a debilitating eye disease and his home was destroyed by a hurricane. In December 1871, heavy rains struck the area, bringing the water in the lake to flood levels and swamping villages all around the lake. Hundreds of people rushed to Van Dijken, asking him to pray to his God for mercy. An open–air prayer service was held and the flood waters immediately receded.
At this, many villagers became Christians. The name of the village was changed from Moroduku (“land of the giants”) to Duma. Related to the local phrase “Duma wi doohawa,” it means, “But he [Van Dijken] was not harmed.”
New beginnings
By the end of the year, 200 Galelarese were attending church services at Duma and a new church was dedicated in July 1874. As a sign of new beginnings, Van Dijken planted a mango seed by the lake.
Van Dijken died in June 1900 but the church continued to prosper. He and his wife, Maria, had trained several local people as pastors and evangelists, and within 50 years there were more than 40,000 Christians on Halmahera.
During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia in World War II, Christian leaders in Halmahera were suspected of being spies. Leaders were imprisoned on the neighboring island of Ternate, church buildings were used as arsenals and Christians were forbidden to congregate. Many fled into the jungle to worship in secret. In these conditions, with allied bombs exploding around them, the church became a truly indigenous movement.
Duma attacked
In January 2000, the fighting that began in Ambon led to a declaration of jihad (“holy” war) against the Christian community of Halmahera. Thousands of fighters from outside the province advanced across the island, destroying churches and killing Christians. Their target destination was Duma, population 1,500.
On June 19, 2000, just two days after the centenary of Van Dijken’s death, Duma was attacked by a force of around 4,000 jihad fighters. Three years later, village elder Levi Selong recounted the attack while standing amid the ruins of the destroyed church. Unable to hold off the fighters any longer, Selong said, the Christians retreated into the church. Men in the compound tried in vain to defend the women and children who sought refuge inside the building. Homemade weapons and prayer were their only defense against the well–armed mob.
“I didn’t want them to take our church,” said Kristina, a young woman whose legs were hit with bullets as she tried to roll fuel drums in the path of the attackers. “I fell to the ground wounded and was helped by some of the young people. My father and older brother were killed. They burned my father alive and cut my brother to pieces with their machetes.”
Twenty–year–old Sefnat said his father was killed along with about 200 others. His body was never found. Bombs were directed into the church; many victims were wounded or killed when the roof collapsed. Survivors ran into the jungle and returned days later to bury their dead in crude graves before leaving the village as refugees.
Meanwhile nearby, the mob destroyed the gravestones of Hendrik Van Dijken and his wife, Maria. They assumed Duma, the base of missionary outreach to the Malukus, was finished and Christianity would soon be eradicated from Halmahera.
However by July 2003, hundreds of refugees had returned to the villages of Halmahera to rebuild their homes and replant crops. That month, a visitor addressed a large crowd of survivors in Duma and viewed video footage of a memorial procession held in June 2003.
The video showed dozens of young children, dressed in black, carrying framed photographs of their older siblings and parents in an unimaginable outpouring of grief.
By way of encouragement, the speaker reminded them of the familiar story of Van Dijken, “he who was not harmed.” The mango tree that he planted more than 100 years ago now stands majestically beside the lake as a reminder to the people of Duma to offer the fruit of forgiveness and rise once again as ambassadors for peace. (CD)
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