An Indonesian Seventh-day Adventist leader has appealed to Christians around the world to participate in a letter-writing campaign to focus international attention on escalating religious violence in East Indonesia.

The three-year-long conflict between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku provinces has led to more than 1,000 deaths and has forced thousands of families from their homes; the situation has developed into a “huge crisis,” says Hiskia Missah, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Adventist Church in the south Asia-Pacific region. 

The letter-writing campaign, which is being coordinated by the public affairs and religious liberty department of the Adventist Church worldwide, will help Indonesian authorities understand the high level of international concern about the situation in East Indonesia, says Missah.  Letters should reflect our commitment to peace and tolerance, he adds. “We need to represent our Lord and speak out against the violence. As our General Conference president [Pastor Jan Paulsen] said about Indonesia, ‘Violence in the name of religion can never be justified. The Adventist message is of a compassionate, freedom-loving God, and this is the message we will continue to proclaim with all our strength.’”

A country with an estimated 211 million inhabitants, Indonesia is one of the world’s most densely populated nations. Some 85 percent are Muslim, ten percent Christian, two percent Hindu and one percent Buddhist.  Missah notes that in the Maluku provinces (Molucca islands) different religious groups once lived together in peace and tolerance, proudly speaking of their good relationships.

“But then came the tragedy and collapse into violence and killing,” says Missah. “The problem is that the violence has become indiscriminate. Attacks are generalized—all Christians are to be killed. So some of our people have been killed and our churches have been burned. Hundreds of our members have had to flee their homes and some have been attacked.”

He adds that many of those who have abandoned their homes “have fled to Manado on the island of Celebes for safety. ADRA [the Adventist Development and Relief Agency] is helping with materials, the local Adventists are collecting for food and clothing, and we have had donations. But it is still not enough.”