Hope Springs Eternal

SEARCHING FOR POSITIVE messages from the devastation and rubble of last December's tsunami, one theme stands out: the solidarity in grief and support of the worst-affected areas of South East Asia that have unified previously distant, and often warring, elements of society. The swift and unprejudiced response of missionary organisations and Western aid agencies has greatly benefited movements for peace and inter-religious dialogue in the region.

Hindus & Buddhists

In Sri Lanka, the tsunami killed more than 30,000 people. The 20-million-strong population has been divided by a civil war for nearly two decades, between a Hindu Tamil minority in the north and east, and the majority Buddhist Sinhalese in the south and west. However, when Sri Lanka's president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, shook hands with two Tamil Tiger guerrillas earlier this month, many saw the gesture as a symbol of peacemaking in the aftermath of a disaster that brought people of various faiths together in mourning. The president, who lost an eye in a Tiger assassination attempt in 1999, even declared that the prospect of a return to civil war with Tigers was now only a remote possibility.
Although a peaceful solution to the civil war remains uncertain, both Tamils and government forces have set aside their differences to work together in an unprecedented initiative of disaster relief. Before the tsunami, both sides had been locked in a political and military stalemate, with the prospects of success for a Tiger proposal for an interim self-governing authority, a de-facto government in the north and east of the island, seeming slim. Each party seemed intent on strengthening its bargaining position prior to peace negotiations. Now, though, the Tigers are significantly weakened. Not only did the tsunami drastically reduce their military capacity - especially in their naval guerrilla unit known as the Sea Tigers - but in terms of Western reconstruction initiatives, they are unlikely to benefit in the medium term because they have been labelled a terrorist organisation by several Western governments. The United Nations, therefore, is likely to resist providing funds to the group.
Although such a military imbalance may raise the chances that Ms Kumaratunga could test the Tigers' depleted strength, her comments on the remote possibility of war, suggest she is inclined to follow a more peaceful course. The weakening of the Tigers promote the prospects for achieving long-term peace, and there is now the opportunity for the president to show 'a leap of faith', and bring the rebels into the government's confidence.

Globalised solidarity

Many missionary organisations were well-placed and quick to galvanise aid schemes for the worst struck areas. When he learned of the tragedy, the Pope sent a shipment of aid via his humanitarian aid agency, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. Bishop Elio Sgreccia, named president of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the beginning of the year, said the defence of life in the devastated areas would depend in part on the triumph of solidarity. The only beautiful sign that is seen in this moment is the surge in feelings of solidarity, which brings help from all parts of the world, he said.
Father Bernardo Cervellera, an expert on Asia, and a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, said, This tragedy, so globalised from the point of view of the victims as well as from the point of view of the perception, is making solidarity more globalised too. This sense of solidarity has had positive repercussions for inter-religious dialogue in the area, especially with Islam.
Fr. Vincenzo Baravalle, provincial superior of the Xaverian Missionary Fathers in Indonesia, said that in the strongly Islamic area of Aceh, in northern Sumatra - which, as it was so close to the quake's epicentre, has been the most badly affected area with 100,000 lives lost in the disaster - there is a potential for radical extremists to misinterpret the work of Christian relief agencies. In no way do we want to take a risk so that someone thinks the Church wants to take advantage of the situation in order to extend its presence, he said.
The apostolic nuncio in Indonesia, Archbishop Albert Ranjith Patabendige Don, had a more positive message, though, saying Catholic groups were working with Islamic and secular aid agencies to bring relief to those left homeless by the disaster.

Hindus & Christians

In southern India, Hindu fundamentalists have praised the work of Christian missionaries providing assistance to those affected by the tsunamis. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the militant wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the nationalist Hindu party hostile to religious minorities, commended the efforts of Christian organisations in disaster areas, after the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) responded swiftly by activating rescue measures to aid victims of the tsunami, which killed more than 15,000 people in India. CBCI's Secretary General, Bishop Percival Fernandez said the Church was at the service of everyone, irrespective of religion and community.
Archbishop Michael Augustine of Pondicherry-Cuddalore confirmed the extraordinary solidarity felt among Hindus, Christian, and Muslims, who have been living in the same shelters without any sort of discrimination. This period of crisis has made people united in their intense personal suffering, he said.
Such declarations have been borne out by the experience of communities such as Puthukuppam, near Pondicherry, where the local parish priest, Fr. Anthony Sampathkumar, said 300 Hindus were sheltering in his church. Each and every one here in our shelter has lost two or more family members to the tidal wave, he said. There is blind trust in each other; the people are helping each other through their own tragedy.
In Bangalore, capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, several hundred members of different religions - Hindus, Jainists, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians - united to pray for tsunami victims. The meeting was chaired by the first minister of Karnataka state, Hon Chatruvendi, who said that the event was a demonstration that all humanity is the family of God, and that the human race has one origin and destiny.

Christians & Muslims

In Indonesia, 85 percent of the country's 235 million inhabitants are Muslim, and about 13 percent of the population are Christian, including 6 million Catholics (although some regions, such as the Malukus, or Spice Islands, and Sulawesi, are majority Christian). While the Church is a minority throughout the world's largest archipelago, and particularly in Aceh - where a separatist group called the Free Aceh government has been fighting the government for independence since 1976 - there has been a massive response by Church groups in the area to the disaster. A coalition of Church networks representing 25,000 of the 38,000 churches in Indonesia has formed to respond to this crisis.
On 5 January, John Howard, Australia's Prime Minister, announced an AUS $1bn co-operative initiative with the Indonesia government, the Partnership for Reconstruction and Development, to help aid projects in the aftermath of the tsunami. The Australian government has in the past been keen to develop security partnerships with Indonesian authorities to counter the rise of Islamic militancy in their South-East Asian neighbour. And these overtures seem to have been given a new impetus.
Howard was the first foreign leader to contact Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, after the tsunami, and to offer his support. Since then, Australian troops have been working on the ground with Indonesian troops in Aceh to distribute aid to tsunami survivors.
The partnership reflects the increasingly close relationship between our two countries and our desire to work together to help Indonesia recover from the tremendous human and economic damage it has sustained as a result of the tsunami, said Howard. It is a program of long-term, sustained co-operation and capacity building. It is focused on economic reconstruction and development.
The aid will encompass small-scale reconstruction to re-establish social and economic infrastructure in affected areas, human resource development and rehabilitation. Out of the appalling tragedy of the tsunami has emerged an opportunity to build a new future, said Howard. A spokesman for the Australian embassy in London highlighted that the common need created by the disaster had the effect of bringing people of different factions together. Television footage of a Muslim separatist working with a government police officer to distribute aid in the war-stricken province of Aceh bore this out.
The inter-religious repercussions of the tsunami have been felt much further afield than the areas affected by December's quake. In Pakistan, Christian and Muslim communities came together to pray for all the victims of the disaster, according to Franciscan Fr. Francis Nadeem, secretary of the Pakistani Bishops' Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue. A prayer vigil was organised in Lahore on 1 January, and similar services and acts of solidarity with disaster-struck people in South-East Asia were held in many other cities and towns. Many of the missionaries in Pakistan are from Sri Lanka, and this brought the tragedy all the closer to us Fr. Nadeem said. Meanwhile, the president of the Commission, Bishop Andrew Francis of Multan, wrote a letter to the Muslim leaders thanking Muslims for taking part in the inter-religious prayers and he recalled Saint Francis of Assisi who was like a bridge between Christianity and Islam.

Obstacles

On the other hand, there are some negative elements emerging from the otherwise positive story of solidarity and inter-religious co-operation. Reports from some areas of southern India suggest that the lowest caste of society, Dalits or untouchables, are being forced out of relief camps and denied aid supplies by higher caste survivors. Many Dalits earned a meagre living farming fields which have been ravaged by the tsunami, rendering the workers unemployed. While aid has been swift to reach camps dominated by other castes, the Dalits have gained little from reconstruction efforts. Chandra Jayaram, 35, from Nagapattinam, who lost her husband to the tsunami, said, At the relief camps we are treated differently due to our social status. We are not given relief supplies. The government says we will not be given anything as we are not affected much. Her family had not received the promised government compensation of 100,000 rupees ($2,290).
The government has denied the allegations, and said it is providing relief to every tsunami-affected family, but a spokesman for the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, said the caste issue was a factor in relief distribution, and that the social discrimination which existed during normal times is still continuing. There is nothing new.
On the whole, although there have been reports of exploitation of the aid effort in certain areas, these seem to be related to general crime, rather than secular tension. In Sri Lanka, where the tsunami killed more than 30,000 across the island, reports have emerged of looting, rape, and theft of aid intended for survivors by criminal elements from outside the affected areas. The Catholic Bishops Conference in Sri Lanka urged survivors not to prey on others, but to share what they have with those who are worse off, irrespective of the differences in ethnicity or religion. We are all brothers and sisters, and in this tragedy we should display our brotherly love for each other.