Sulawesi: An Island Under Spiritual Attack

by Wesley Kawato

If the Garden of Eden had still existed, it probably would resemble Sulawesi Island in many ways. Sulawesi, formerly known as the Celebes, is one of the main islands of Indonesia. It’s a land of green lowland rain forests, high interior mountains, dotted with lakes and blue seas bordered by beaches where palm trees grow.

Over 50 languages are spoken on Sulawesi. Most or all of the island’s people groups are related to the Malay people group bloc of Southeast Asia.

Sulawesi has an exciting history. The island was discovered by Portuguese and Spanish spice traders in the 16th century. They were harassed by pirates of the Bulag tribe, based on Sulawesi, who plundered many galleons. In the 18th century, the Dutch East Asia Company drove out their Spanish and Portuguese competitors, and took over the island. This happened around the time the Dutch took control over the rest of Indonesia.

Sulawesi always has been a cultural and technological backwater in Indonesia. New ideas usually came from Java or Sumatra before arriving on Sulawesi. Empires that had tried to unify Indonesia usually began on Java or Sumatra, expanding to Sulawesi only after consolidating their hold on those other two islands.

Sulawesi’s Strange Religious History
The various tribes of Sulawesi have been part of four major religions. Hinduism came first. Buddhism came to the island when the Srivija Empire conquered part of Sulawesi in the 2nd century. Even after that kingdom fell, some parts of the island remained predominantly Buddhist. Other tribal groups remained mostly Hindu.

The religious landscape of Sulawesi started to change in the 14th century, when traders from India brought Islam to Java and Sumatra. Islam took root on those two islands and then spread to Sulawesi and the other major island groups further to the east. The rapid spread of Islam erased the last traces of Buddhism and Hinduism from Sulawesi.

Christianity came to Indonesia in 1511 when the Portuguese conquered the neighboring island of Melaka from one of Indonesia’s last Muslim empires. Portuguese Catholic missionaries found the people of Melaka very open to the gospel. When Portugal took control of parts of Sulawesi, they brought Christianity with them. Catholic missionaries found the various tribes of this island to be less open to the gospel than the people of Melaka. They nevertheless won a few converts and eventually established Sulawesi’s first churches.

The first Protestant missionaries arrived on Sulawesi when the Dutch conquered Indonesia from the Portuguese and the Spanish in the mid-18th century. Dutch missionaries found some tribes on Sulawesi to be very open to the gospel while others remained disinterested in the new religion. Small pockets of Catholics eagerly adopted the theology and polity introduced by the Dutch Reformed Church and were absorbed into the revival movement sparked by the work of these missionaries.

Christianity spread rapidly among Sulawesi’s interior tribes. Many coastal tribes, such as the piratical Bugis, remained staunchly Muslim. Varying reactions to the gospel reintroduced religious tension to the island. Such strife had been a problem during the time when Buddhism and Hinduism competed for the hearts of Sulawesi’s people. Such strife had disappeared after Islam became the island’s dominant religion.

Not all of the people groups contacted by the Dutch missionaries understood the gospel. Some tribes borrowed Christian teachings, incorporating them into the animism they had traditionally practiced. For example, the Torjan tribe of South Sulawesi believed they were descended from a sky boat that had crashed into their mountainous interior homeland. This may be a corrupted version of the Noah’s Ark story from the book of Genesis. The Torjans also hold elaborate feasts for dead relatives, to usher them into the afterlife.

After the 18th century, Christianity stagnated on Sulawesi. That changed in 1915, when a Dutch missionary named Hendrik von Klift began preaching on the island. Von Klift and his coworkers won many people to the Lord. As before, the response was uneven. Some people groups were much more open to the gospel than others. In 1917, von Klift moved his mission from the town of Kolaka to Moware, so he could be closer to the Tolaki people, one of the tribes most open to the gospel.

Indonesia during WWII
In the early 20th century, the Dutch were still in control of Indonesia and their army prevented the outbreak of religious violence on Sulawesi. After the von Klift Revival had ended, an external threat temporarily united the peoples of Sulawesi as well as the rest of Indonesia. In early 1942, Japan invaded Indonesia. Not all of the tribes on Sulawesi had liked the Dutch, but they quickly learned to hate the Japanese. Japan’s brutal occupation policies won many enemies on the island.

During World War II, the people of Sulawesi were divided regarding what should be the island’s post-war future. Some people groups favored the return of their Dutch colonial masters. Other tribes favored independence.

Sulawesi was a backwater during World War II. The American military bypassed the island, choosing to invade Luzon, many hundreds of miles to the north in 1944. The British concentrated on retaking Burma from the Japanese. However, the American liberation of Luzon cut off the Japanese occupation forces on Sulawesi. Supply ships and planes could no longer get through the American blockade to reach them. This was also true of the other islands of Indonesia. Freedom fighters all over Indonesia rose up against the Japanese, weakening them in the final months of the war.

Indonesia After WWII
After the Japanese surrender in August of 1945, the Dutch Army returned to Sulawesi and the rest of Indonesia. By then, pro-independence militia groups were in firm control of all of the liberation movements on the various islands. The Dutch found themselves subjected to guerrilla attacks. Java and Sumatra won independence first. In 1949, Sulawesi joined the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.

The new nation had a Muslim majority of 80 percent, but adopted a constitution that guaranteed religious freedom, unusual for a country with such a large Muslim majority. Over the years, the hand of God has kept Indonesia open to the gospel. In 1965, communist insurgents tried to take over the country, but the coup was crushed by the Indonesian army. The success of that coup would have led to the expulsion of all Christian missionaries from Indonesia.

Then General Suharto, the man who’d crushed the coup, took control of the country's government. Here too the hand of God was evident. Suharto was a moderate Muslim, not a militant. During most of his rule, he enforced a policy of religious neutrality. Both Christians and Muslims received equal protection under the law. Suharto’s government also left Christian missionaries alone. This policy of toleration created the atmosphere needed for the 1965-75 revival to take root. There were numerous conversions during those 10 years, especially on the island of Java. Many miracles and healings added credibility to the gospel message.

Unfortunately, the revival bypassed Sulawesi. Yet by the late 20th century, 16 percent of Sulawesi’s population had chosen to follow the Lord, a high percentage by Indonesian standards. But their distribution was uneven. Some villages had a Christian majority, while others had no believers living in them. Most of the non-Christians in Sulawesi were Muslims. That situation had remained unchanged since the end of the von Klift Revival during the 1920s. Unfortunately, the church in Sulawesi had become complacent. A new and horrible challenge is now facing the Christians and non–Christians in Sulawesi.

The Potential Bloodbath in Sulawesi
In 2000, Christian refugees fleeing the Melaka Islands began pouring into Sulawesi. Their Muslim persecutors followed them there. These extremists encouraged the Muslim tribes of Sulawesi to persecute their Christian neighbors. Christian villages have been burned to the ground and believers hacked to death. Thousands of Christians have fled to refugee camps located on parts of the island only to experience persecution. Many of these people had spent days on the run, fleeing their homes with only the clothes on their backs. In December, the Indonesian military intervened, but it is only a matter of time before the Muslims attack again.

The Christians of Sulawesi need our prayers. Pray for God’s protection during this time of crisis. Pray that these believers would consistently show God’s love to their “unlovable” neighbors. There have been disturbing reports of Christian militias staging retaliatory attacks on Muslim villages. Pray also that the Christians of Sulawesi will have the courage to continue witnessing and demonstrating the fruit of the Holy Spirit despite persecution. Pray that God will mercifully turn angry Muslim hearts to Jesus. Pray that Satan and his hordes will be defeated, and that God will be glorified during these difficult times. May God restore peace to Sulawesi!