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Catholics in Indonesia during the Japanese occupation, 1942-1945
By KAREL A. STEENBRINK
Professor Emeritus of Intercultural Theology at Utrecht University
The Japanese administration of Indonesia took religion as an important issue in order to win the sympathy of the population. It gave ample facilities to Islamic institutions.
Christianity was seen as the religion introduced and most often directed by the Dutch oppressor. Moreover, Islam was the religion of more than 80% of the population, while in 1942 Christianity reached only about 2.5%.
Therefore the Japanese attitude was ambiguous towards Christianity. Dutch missionary personnel were in most cases interned, and initially buildings and other properties of the churches were confiscated, the schools closed or taken over by the new authority.
The same was the case with the medical care organised by the Christian churches. In the second year of the Japanese rule there was a milder policy: the Japanese sent several Protestant ministers, some Catholics priests and even two Japanese Catholic bishops to Indonesia (especially to Minahasa and Flores).
There were many local variations in this pattern. On the whole it has to be acknowledged that Christianity not only survived the Pacific War but indigenous leadership was given an opportunity to grow because of the absence of foreign missionaries.
In education and medical care the Christian churches never regained the broad facilities and close cooperation with the state they had enjoyed before 1942.
For the whole of Indonesia the Japanese period was seldom seen as a move towards independence and greater freedom. With the exception of Batakland, the indigenous Indonesians only reluctantly took over the positions of the foreign missionaries. The churches lost much of their solid foundation in society: their schools and sometimes also the hospitals.
In 1943 the administration required that during church service the leader should read a message about the Greater Asia War, its causes and aims.
Emperor worship also entered the church buildings, because in many places a Japanese flag was put inside the church building, on the wall facing Tokyo. Before the beginning of the service the assembled congregation were to face that wall and bow.
Although it was officially stated that this was an act of respect and not of veneration or adoration, the Christian community had an uneasy feeling about it. Some people wanted to evade this ritual and decided not to go to church anymore.
Another reason for a fall in church attendance was the fact that many people had no decent clothes anymore. In regions like the Moluccas, festive black clothes were preserved for going to church on Sundays.
Children could go to school naked, as happened in Sangir (the archipelago north of Sulawesi) towards the end of the war, but their parents did not wish them to participate in the church service in such a condition.
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Mampir di Kelenteng Mojosari yang baru terbakar
Kelenteng Hiap Thian Kiong di Mojosari, Kabupaten Mojokerto, dilalap api pada Minggu (7/5/2023) siang. Si jago merah l menghanguskan sebagian bangunan TITD yang didirikan pada 1897 tersebut.
Minggu kemarin (21 Mei) kita mampir untuk melihat dari dekat kondisi Kelenteng Mojosari itu. Lokasinya strategis sekali di pojokan jalan raya. Kita orang yang wisata ke Pacet, Trawas, Jolotundo dsb biasanya lewat di depan itu kelenteng.
Kita disambut dengen baek oleh dua orang Tionghoa yang lagi sibuk membersihkan puing-puing reruntuhan bangunan. Ada juga dua tukang kelihatannya wong Jowo. Kelihatannya sedang persiapan renovasi.
"Sekarang baru dibersihkan setelah pita garis polisi diambil," kata salah seorang pengurus kelenteng yang perempuan.
Kita perhatikan hanya satu bangunan yang kobong. Tiga bangunannya masih utuh. Gedung pertemuan kena separo. Gedung pertunjukan wayang potehi tidak terkena api sama sekali. Patung dewa-dewi masih kelihatan utuh meski terpanggang si jago merah di siang bolong itu.
Kita juga tanya siapa tuan rumah itu kelenteng dan bagaimana kondisinya. "Maksudnya tuan rumah?" wanita itu bertanya balik.
Kita punya maksud apakah tuan rumahnya Makco, Dewi Kwan Im, Kong Tik Tjung Ong....
"Oh.. di sini tuan rumahnya Dewa Kwan Kong," katanya.
Oh, kita orang dulu pernah beberapa kali mampir di Kelenteng Mojosari dan sempat nulis beritanya. Itu karena kita dikasih tahu Ki Subur, dalang wayang potehi dari Sidoarjo, yang ditanggap main di situ. Dalam rangka sembahyang rebutan atau apa kita lupa.
Ki Subur biasa main lakon potehi sesuai permintaan Kwan Kong sebagai empunya rumah. Biasanya cerita tentang petualangan Sie Djien Kwie. Seru banget. Subur yang wong Jowo mampu menghidupkan cerita lama itu dengan bahasa gado-gado Hokkian, Jowo, Melayu Tionghoa, dan bahasa Indonesia.
Selalu ada adegan lucu yang bikin kita orang ketawa-ketawa. Meskipun penontonnya sedikit, pertunjukan potehi jalan terus. Biasanya main saban hari selama satu bulan.
Kita lihat itu panggung sekaligus rumah khusus untuk pertunjukan wayang potehi masih utuh. Kita ikut senang dan mendoakan semoga kelenteng tua itu segera diperbaiki agar cakep lagi seperti sedia kala. Dan, kalau ada pentas potehi kita orang akan luangkan waktu untuk dateng nonton lagi.