tfw the my house is not far away from the march 13th night bombing

Sorry to hear that. Praying is useless, wish I could actually help, but all I can do is bump. :)

suroboyowani

bump for your city

Bump! 😊 👍

Bump

Very sad indeed.

not all religions are good, but the religions that reach a large population like Buddhism, Islam, or Christianity would naturally be mostly good people.

Salamat Mas,
Hope you're alright. I moved out of Indonesia into Darwin Australia, but I have alot of family in Surabaya

bump

i myself not a religious person only go to church at 4 moment (Holy week, Christmas, New year, pre-exam),

Buset.

I really enjoyed my time in Indonesia. We wandered away from the tourist enclaves; the Indonesians I met were very welcoming and friendly. We were invited into homes to eat with them. We were invited to sit down to Eid al-Adha when they served a very spicy buffalo. They had a local handmade ice cream vendor; so I treated some of the kids to reciprocate their gesture. We were invited to sit down to a group Christmas dinner and into their churches. We helped carry the roasted meat on banana leaves to different family groups meeting on the lawn. I met many friendly Hindu. Buddhists were happy to allow us to wander their shrines and inquire about their daily offerings. As long as I took off my shoes and washed my face, I was welcome in every Mosque. An Imam sang from the scriptures for us. We played a simple domino (card) game with them. We fished with them. I even helped make bricks with some to see how they put a house together.

At one restaurant, we watched the Holleywood movie, Avatar. At one point, the waiter awkwardly gestured that the movie was a metaphor between the US and Indonesia. I knew what he was implying but pretended to not understand the parallel he was grasping for. We continued to have a friendly association that evening.

We spent time in Muslim villages--very generous, loving people. I met a chieftain who had 4 wives. I met a young man who suddenly propositioned me for gay sex.

I did run into another small misunderstandings at one Muslim wedding that I wandered into. As I was watching from the side; wedding guests eagerly gestured for me to join their festivities and gave me a seat in the front row. They brought out a box dinner for me like everyone else was enjoying.

Their society is different in their interactions on the dance floor. In their society, the added freedom to interact with whomever one wants can be bad for society; so they have mores and practices to restrict and contain some interactions--some small and sensible, others extreme and overextended (as observed from a perspective coming from US society, which itself is diverse.)

Nevertheless, the result that they see in some of USA society is that two people can run off to have sex the same night that they just met. That is not part of my society, but I can see how a significant portion of our liberated society chases after that with little regard to the consequences of living such a whimsical sexuality.

Our own (USA) magazines warn of the complex problems that can still occur with this behavior, but we believe more strongly in the freedom to pursue wild sexual practices if the individual desires. The freedom of the individual to pursue their own path through life is held in a high priority above many of the unfortunate consequences that affect that person and even overlooks some of the collateral damage to others.

In my case, a man at the village incorrectly presumed that I was ready to get into bed with one of the women from the entertainment at the wedding. I could not respond that that is a rare occurrence in my US society. His sin was his assumption that my citizenship as an American defined my behavior. But after expressing his disapproval, he was pleasant to explain his worry in broken English.

After I realized what his concern was, I responded that my Christian beliefs and practices aligned more with his proper behavior as defined by Halal(approved) acts within Islam. Slinking off to my guesthouse to bed with a strange woman? "No, Haram! (forbidden)" Once he realized that my behavior in his society would not cause problems in his village, he calmed down and was happy with the choices that I would be making in his society.

Can Islamic society be overly restrictive? In my opinion, yes! Should behavior be spelled out so strictly? I believe in a moralistic, ethical, humanistic approach that teaches individuals the complexities of their behavior and how they affect others. I do not believe in a god Zeus that abuses his power with lightning bolts to watch humans squirm and comes down to rape and pillage at his whim. From what I have seen, most all religions intend to encourage good behavior even if their approach is many times flawed and counter productive.

Ethics is a concern for the others in society. Ultimately, each individual must choose how they will behave in society. Society decides with its laws which acts go so far beyond reasonable freedom of behavior that someone must be removed from society--with all of the extra costs to society for that removal.

In Bali, I saw a few policeman with military rifles near some hotels as a show of force and order against a bombing that had occurred a few years ago. In Papua, some political dissidents had cut 5 trees down at night to block the main road through town. It held everyone up for a couple hours that day but the action was a relatively safe vandalism rather than a quick random act of terror.

Overall, my understanding of Indonesians is not defined by a one-dimensional presumption of religious indoctrination. If I thought they are, I would be making the same mistake that the gentleman at the wedding started to make with me. There were also plenty of people who had a religion handed to them at birth and were seemingly leaving that doctrine outside of their own path in life. I was told many times to please return to my homeland and encourage others that they are welcome as well in Indonesia.

On a short note, it is tragic that a family in Surabaya made such a drastic mortal choice to end their life and others in their community. It is tragic when we see extreme groups which encourage and applaud such a quick, random, senseless killing--targeting adherents of another religion in their community. I walked the streets and paths of Indonesia in the dark night without any incident--this rare tragedy in Surabaya this week was not the Indonesia that I saw. Indonesia is not Islamic. It has many communities that have high concentrations of kind, friendly Islamic people.

The saddest and darkest thing recently
Some of the victims just lil kids,, and the main bomber use their kids for bombing.
They should play together not met like this..

View attached image.