Syamsul Hadi M. Suhari, Apriadi Gunawan and Indra Harsaputra, Gorontalo/Medan/Surabaya – Christmas celebrations across the nation on Friday went off relatively smoothly despite a number of disruptions, including blackouts, rallies and a deadly electrical accident.
In Gorontalo, many Christians were forced to celebrate Christmas without power due to blackouts lasting for up to nine hours on Thursday and Friday in most parts of the province.
Gorontalo regency resident Grace Pricilia said the power outage had disturbed her family's preparation for the religious holiday. "We had to cook dishes and finish putting Christmas decorations up at our house in the dark," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Maranatha Church leader Deysi Derdanella, of Limboto, Gorontalo regency, said her church nearly had to cancel Christmas services due to the blackout. "Fortunately, a church congregation member lent us a generator," she said.
The North Sumatra Police's headquarters also reported that Christmas celebrations in the province, in which one third of the 12 million residents are Christians, went smoothly and peacefully.
However, a policeman and a member of the Pramuka scout movement both of whom were manning the Christmas security post in Brandan, Langkat regency, North Sumatra died after being electrocuted on Thursday afternoon.
"Both victims were installing a TV antenna at the post when the incident occurred. The antenna accidentally touched a high-voltage power cable and they were electrocuted," North Sumatra Police's spokesperson Sr. Comr. Helfi Assegaf said.
In Surabaya, East Java, members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) held rallies in several locations in the city on Wednesday, urging companies not to force their Muslim employees to wear Santa Claus clothing during Christmas celebrations in the city.
"It's a peaceful rally. We are reminding them not to force their Muslim employees to wear Santa Claus costumes because it is not in accordance with Islamic teachings," said East Java FPI head Andry Ermawan.
Local authorities in several regions, including Surabaya and Padang, West Sumatra, earlier issued an appeal to employers not to force their Muslim employees to wear Christmas paraphernalia.
Christmas this year fell a day after the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, with both religious celebrations declared national holidays.
Christmas celebrations were also reportedly peaceful in a number of regions, such as in Bandung, West Java; Makassar,South Sulawesi; Pekanbaru, Riau; and Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
In Kupang, around 200 Muslim youths affiliated with the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Anshor Youth Movement provided assistance to safeguard Christmas celebrations in the city, helping police personnel guard several churches.
In Central Java, 282 Christian inmates in various prisons also received sentence remissions on Friday.
In Bali, 91 inmates at Kerobokan Penitentiary were also sentence reductions, including 14 foreigners, among them Heather Lois Mack and Tommy Schaefer, the US teen couple who murdered Mack's mother.
Both Mack and Schaefer received one month remission. Mack, who is now taking care of her baby in the prison, was sentenced to 10 years, while Schaefer received 15 years.
[Djemi Amnifu in Kupang, Andi Hajramurni in Makassar, Arya Dipa in Bandung, Suherdjoko in Semarang and Ni Komang Erviani in Denpasar, Markus Makur in Manggarai and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb in Padang contributed to the article.]