OMC/TPM-14 Report
Adison Wongkar - OMC-14 Committee Chair

Greetings in the gracious love of He who loves us while we’re yet sinners!

First, let me exalt all thanks and glory to God who taught us to fear and to know Him. And by knowing Him, our hearts are being restored so we would love without borders as we persevere in Him as our only hope.

On behalf the entire TPM XIV committee, I would like to share both the lessons and the tremendous sense of challenge that we gleaned from this conference through this report. I also would like to thank our partners for their generous support to make this conference a success. I would also like to thank so many of our workers who had poured their utmost in serving in the committee.

Theme and the Keynote Speakers

Our theme this year is “Revisiting the Problem of Social Capital in Indonesia.” This is particularly a very relevant theme for Indonesia that lately has seen polarization in society along the lines of SARA (ethnic, religious belief, race, and groups) which manifested itself in surging social violence. Aggravated assaults against churches in the last three years alone has numbered more than 1000, an order higher than all the previous assaults dating back to Indonesian independence in 1945, which totaled 611. Ironically, this happens in a period where Indonesia is coming out of the shadow of old ORBA regime and welcoming a new era of democracy, which supposed to bring a more civil society. Therefore, following last year’s conference topic that centers on developing civil society in Indonesia, we felt it is apt to dissect the problem of thinning social capital that underpins the failing of civil society.

We’ve got a broad spectrum to cover here. In order to maintain our root in Biblical understanding of these social issues while at the same time attain a veracity of perception from top to bottom of the social reality, we have invited the following outstanding keynote speakers from Indonesia:

• Rev. Dr. Albertus Patty, a pastor serving at GKI (Indonesian Christian Church) Maulana Yusuf in Bandung, who are also an keen social observer active in various interfaith dialogues. He earned his doctorate at Pittsburg Theological Seminary and has been serving as a pastor for almost two decades.
• Mr. Albert Suryo Sarman, a social worker and researcher in the area of human rights, poverty, and pluralism especially in rural areas, who earned domestic and internal accolade through his activism. Mr. Sarman is characterized by his deep compassion and identification to people in the grassroot and bottom rung of social strata.
• Mr. Josef Adreanus Nae Soi, a member of DPR (People’s Representative Council) serving in Commission V which covers issues in transportation, telecommunications, civil works, civil housing, and development of underdeveloped regions. This position has allowed Mr. Soi to influence government decision making in constructing not just infrastructural facilities for people but also social fabrics among the people.

Social Capital… Is it in the Bible?

Rev. Patty opened the sessions by presenting the Biblical support for social capital. First, regardless of one’s belief, ethnicity, social status, or ideology-political affiliation, every human being is God’s beloved creation. Much so that Christ had given his life to a painful crucifix to each and every one of them. As Christians who have been loved so much and absolved of our sins, we could only afford prejudice, enmity, apathy, or ethnocentrism at the offense against our Lord’s very character. This emphasis on love as the central motivation to build social capital is a Christian concept that transcends the conventional social-science theory which tends to elevate human reason as sufficient explanation as to why social capital.

Second, social capital can only be achieved through socially responsible actions and this directly ties into Biblical concept of respecting God’s image in every people. The Bible reminded us that whatever we did “for the least of these” we did to God. In short, we are “our brother’s keepers” and we need to watch for each other’s back. In the same beat, Rev. Patty also admonished the tendency of Christians to use their status of being God’s children as a tool to assert group supremacy so they could look down on others and erect sectarian barriers. Invariably such supremacist view is in direct violation to God’s intention for the believers to love those who are different, even the enemies.

Third, Social capital, which in social science conception is the enabling capital for people to work together collaboratively, is also a necessary capital in view of God’s cultural mandate. This is so because no one individual or group could sufficiently cultivate and care for God’s creation by themselves. Collaboration is essential to fulfill the cultural mandate to manage all that God has entrusted to us in stewardship.

Untangling Social Reality in Indonesia

Social reality is characterized by intertwining complexity. Each of our keynote speakers spent a few sessions delineating each area of social reality according to their field of involvement and engaged with the audience in Q&A sessions.

There is an apparent crisis of social capital in Indonesia. Mr. Sarman cited the following social scandals as its evidence: 1) widespread blatant corruption, 2) military-style thug and violence, and 3) destructive environmental exploitation. The recent tragedy of Lapindo hot mudflow demonstrated how social capital has been torn apart by unabashed opportunistic exploitation of the poor that gave no heed to social manners.

This crisis also manifested itself in mounting violent conflicts. According to Rev. Patty, ethnic and religious conflicts are often caused by: 1) political power struggle, 2) widening economic gap and abject poverty resulting from access inequalities, and 3) cultural and theological misunderstandings. Oftentimes, the political struggle could easily leverage an existing economic divide and tenuous relationship among cultures to incite SARA conflicts through slight provocations. The olden tradition or “adat” in many rural areas that up until now has provided social cohesion is now being replaced by cohesion along economic and political lines. The crushing economic hardship due to severe urbanization that exposed rural areas to abject poverty and lack of infrastructure has subjected these people to a life without hope of a way out. At the same time gross exploitation continues to further enrich the rich and deprive the poor. Bitterness seeps in and become a potent explosive, ready to be detonated by trivial matters.

Mr. Soi also corroborated the findings of the other two speakers. He avowed that currently our country is both vulnerable and fragile in the midst of various pressures and crisis in politics, economics, social, and environment, including climate change. Mr. Soi then described social reality in Indonesia in its relation to governance, institutions, economy, and public policy.

Engaging Church and Christians in Building Social Capital

It is in this context that Indonesian church exists. Our theology should not be confined to vacuum, but rather respond contextually to social reality. As Christians, we are challenged to fully engage our God-given talent and opportunities to serve others, to mend the broken human relations, to collaborate with each other to ultimately restore God’s image in each person. But first, we need to break out of our comfort zones to love the unlovable and care the neglected.

Mr. Sarman asserted that Church has to follow in Christ’s footsteps to incarnate into the midst this gloom social reality. Church cannot run or hide. It has to cease contending for materialistic gain and display. Just as Christ willingly give his life for our sake, so Christians has to lay down themselves in sacrifice to serve others and in doing so be good news to other people. In particular, Mr. Sarman presented some challenges to us as body of Christ: 1) Church has to be true friends, identify with the poor and needy; 2) Church has to unrelentingly propagate its values as foundation for social capital; 3) Church has to empower people at the bottom rung in practical areas such as agriculture, economics, and environment; 4) Church needs to support some of its able members to take active role in non-governmental organizations that contributes to building of social capital; 5) Church needs to give special attention to education and developing critical thinking; 6) Church has to be a role model in administrative integrity to combat corruption.

Mr. Soi reiterated some of the challenges and challenges the Church as body of Christ to serve in terms of providing affordable quality education, health care, and access to information.

Reflection and Take Away Points

The conference ran from August 31st to September 3rd, 2007 in Chicago. Among the 80 registered participants, there were 32 undergrad students, 18 graduate students, and 30 workers from all over the U.S. states: AL, CA, DC, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, OH, PA, TX, WI. We are quite privileged to have the access to this level of education. We are blessed to be a blessing for others.

Quite unique to the conference this year is the generous time allocated for engaging group discussions. This allows the participants to fully reflect and articulate their thoughts and convictions, and formulate practical response to the valuable lessons learned. Following this conference, students in some campuses have already started thinking about building a genuine social cohesion in the states even to those who are different, as a small step to prepare for the social challenge that awaits back home. The gleanings from this conference have ignited the participants with both the spirit and practical ideas to start putting what was learned into practice.

The power of culture and social reality is very strong. Christians individually and collectively, as a Church, are called to make God tangible because our lives may be the only Bible they could see. In the fourteen years of TPM’s existence, it has been quite a journey to develop our common conviction of what’s a Christian to do in Indonesian reality. To the participants, the immense challenge in Indonesia and God-given identity as Indonesians who access to study abroad are no coincidence. God has placed us in such a time and place like this for His wonderful purpose for humanity, especially in Indonesia. It will indeed take a lifetime to continue faithfully in the journey, against all odds and risks.

To conclude this report, I would like to share TPM XIV brief financial report. We would like to express our gratitude to our donors who despite of their limited budget has made it a priority to support this ministry and movement.