soujanya ramamurthy news
The 20th ceremony of the Bali terrorist bombings in Oct was a painful reminder of Indonesia'south fight against extremism, a struggle that continues nevertheless. Just there's some other of import anniversary to remember today, near the cede of an Indonesian who died upholding the ideals of pluralism that hold Indonesia together.
Twenty-two years ago today, a young Muslim man sacrificed himself to save a church filled with people who followed a different religion than his own. In doing then, he became a national hero and a symbol of what Indonesia'south creed of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) truly means.
In the cluttered years after the fall of Suharto, terrorist organizations were able to perpetrate attacks throughout Indonesia. One of the most notorious of those attacks was when followers of Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah carried out bombings at churches across the country on December 24, 2000.
Banser, the youth wing of the influential Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has had a long-continuing tradition of its members guarding churches throughout Indonesia equally a sign of goodwill towards their Christian brothers and sisters (a tradition they even so maintain). One of those is the Eben Haezer Church building in the boondocks of Mojokerto in East Java.
Riyanto was ane of four members of Banser who volunteered to safeguard Eben Haezer that dark. He had turned 25 years old almost a month before.
Hundreds of people attended Christmas Eve services at the church that night. At about 8:30pm, a parishioner noticed that a suspicious black package had been placed near the front of the church.
Riyanto went to check out the packet and opened it up to find a sparking box covered in cables and wire.
At that moment, he must have realized it was a bomb. He could take dropped it and run, trying to save himself. He could take become paralyzed with fear.
Instead, he yelled for everybody else to become downward and ran every bit fast every bit he could abroad from the crowded church, looking for a drainage ditch to throw the bomb into.
Only before he could dispose of information technology, the bomb exploded in Riyanto's hands. The power of the explosion sent his body flying over 100 meters and killed him instantly.
Bombs exploded in churches in ix Indonesian cities that night, killing 18 people. That number might accept been much college had it not been for Riyanto's selfless actions.
For his sacrifice, Riyanto was hailed equally a hero in headlines across Indonesia. A street was named after him in Mojokerto and a shrine to his retention, including his movie and the tattered remains of the shirt he wore that night, can exist plant at the NU museum in Surabaya.
President Gus Dur, a leader in NU and one of Indonesia's strongest defenders of diversity, praised the hero of Mojokerto every bit a shining example of what Islamic values are truly about, maxim "Riyanto has proven himself to be a religious man who was rich in humanity. I hope he earns the benefits of his sacrifice [in the afterlife." The Wahid Plant, a foundation established by Gus Dur to promote tolerance, started a scholarship for underprivileged students in Riyanto'southward proper noun in 2008.
Riyanto's sacrifice is remembered each year in church services and ceremonies at his gravesite where people call up him as a hero who upheld Indonesia and Islam's highest values.
So the adjacent fourth dimension you experience depressed about the state of Republic of indonesia and the seeming rise in intolerance, think about Riyanto and accept religion that there are still plenty of people like him in this country willing to put their lives on the line to uphold Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. This year, effectually 200,000 Banser members, along with around 100,000 police personnel, are working to protect Christmas and New Year'due south masses at churches across Indonesia.
Source: https://coconuts.co/jakarta/features/remembering-riyanto-muslim-youth-who-sacrificed-himself-save-church-bomb-christmas-eve/
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