Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday as Christians flocked to churches across the world's most populous Muslim nation for Christmas celebrations free of violence, although security remained heavy.
National police spokesman Saleh Saaf told Reuters there had been no unrest overnight or during Christmas day across Indonesia, despite fears of a repeat of a wave of bomb attacks on churches last Christmas Eve that killed 19 people.
A small pipe bomb exploded at a home early on Monday in Jakarta but hurt no one, caused little panic and police said the blast might have been connected to an explosion that destroyed a nearby house earlier this year.
The main black mark was a pre-dawn rail crash on Tuesday that killed 42 people when a packed passenger train slammed into a stationary train in Central Java province. "Nothing happened, just the train accident," Saaf said when asked if there had been any unrest.
At Jakarta's colonial-era Cathedral, one of the churches hit by a bomb last year, some 2,000 Christians went through tight security checks before entering the compound.
Cardinal Julius Darmoatmodjo presided over the morning mass and called on the minority Christian community to seek peace in a country that has struggled to stem communal violence in parts of the vast archipelago since plunging into crisis four years ago. "Peace and welfare are still miles away from our lives, fear is still among us, be it Christians or Muslims. As such we have to have tight security to pray," Darmoatmodjo said in his sermon.
On guard
Tens of thousands of police and soldiers have been on guard outside churches and in other public places anxious to prevent a repeat of the countrywide bomb attacks last year.
Officials have previously said the coordinated attacks were intended to destabilise the government of then President Abdurrahman Wahid and stir religious tension.
Christians have crammed into churches, with many refusing to be cowed by the fear of violence. "No problem, whatever happens. That's why I still want to come for the service," said Afiat Badasurya, a worshipper in the industrial city of Surabaya in East Java on Tuesday.
Attacks on places of worship often spark tension in Indonesia. Between 85-90 percent of the population of 210 million people are Muslim, the vast majority holding moderate views.
Among the regions where peace prevailed overnight were eastern areas such as the Moluccas islands and Central Sulawesi province that have been ravaged by clashes between Muslims and Christians since the downfall of President Suharto in 1998.
"Today, celebrations went smoothly like last night. The crowds were quite large," Rinaldi Damanik, secretary-general of the Central Sulawesi Christian Church, told Reuters by telephone from Tentena near violence-hit Poso town.
The official Antara news agency reported from a number of locations that services had gone off without a hitch. It added that firecrackers boomed through the night in battered Ambon in the Moluccas, a noisy reminder for some of the violence that has taken hold in the city.
Most fighting between Muslims and Christians stems from economic and political injustices that festered under Suharto's iron rule. Muslims and Christians are equally represented in eastern parts of the giant archipelago.