LATEST ON REV DAMANIK,   On September 24, 2004, Rev Rinaldy Damanik received news that he was to be released from prison on parole in November of this year! Rev Damanik was arrested in Jakarta on September 10, 2002 after ironically presenting himself as a witness to the riots which has been taking place in Central Sulawesi during 2002. He has been held in prison since that time; first in Jakarta and then in Palu. Despite a mountain of evidence in his defense, and gross contradictions on the side of the prosecution, all acknowledged by leading law experts, Rev Damanik was found guilty in a Palu court in June 2003 on a charge of 'carrying illegal weapons' and sentenced to prison for three years. Appeals to both the High Court and the Supreme Court were unsuccessful. Rev Damanik's fortunes began to change when a leading Muslim cleric, Idrus R al Habsy, widely respected in Central Sulawesi, became good friends with the imprisoned pastor. Idrus has continued to be an advocate for Rev Damanik and recently signed a written guarantee to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights declaring Rev Damanik to be a "man of good character" and that "he should be allowed to go free." The Cleric's interest in Damanik's case began after Idrus's son, Husen, who is chairman of the biggest Muslim organization in Central Sulawesi, was introduced to Rev Damanik when visiting some of his Muslim Youth League friends who were also in the same prison. The muslim youth said to Husen, "we want you to meet Rev Damanik. He is very kind and he is our friend." Husen then became a good friend of Damanik also, visiting him often in the prison. Damanik would say to Husen whenever he left, "please give my greetings to your father." Each time when Husen arrived home he would bring greetings from Damanik to his father and his father would say, "Uhhh, Damanik is a bad man. Be careful he will poison you. Stay away from him." This went on for a long time until God began to speak to Husen's father, Idrus. During Friday prayers over several weeks, Idrus would hear a voice inprayer saying to him, "go and visit Rev Damanik. He is a good man." Eventually he said to his son, "would you take me to visit Rev Damanik." So together they visited Rev Damanik, and continued to do so during this year. They were to become good friends. Idrus discovered that Rev Damanik was a man of peace and they would talk long about how their people could work for peace in Poso, which has been wracked by conflict and bloodshed since December 1998. When Damanik became very sick of May this year, it was Idrus who confronted the prison authorities saying, "you must allow Rev Damanik to leave for Jakarta for medical treatment." In August 2004 Rinaldy and Idrus discussed writing a written guarantee concerning Rev Damanik's integrity and good character. This would be presented to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights in Jakarta. Idrus had been sick, but then signed the guarantee on Friday August the 20th. On the Sunday he spoke to his son and said, "I should have died last week, but I had a responsibility from God that I needed to fulfill and that was signing the guarantee for Rev Damanik." He added, "I will not live to see you at your wedding, but its OK, you have Abang (Rev Damanik). He will be with you." On Monday August 23rd Idrus died. Rev Damanik, who a few days ago celebrated his 45th birthday in prison, received news of his planned release with subdued excitement. He is very much looking forward to seeing his wife Atika and daughter Ananda. He is also very keen to give whatever leadership and encouragement he can to his church community, but he is aware that there is a slim chance that his hopes may be dashed by the legal system. He says, "Wow, this is a miracle. This is a big reduction in my sentence. This can only happen because of the prayers of people all over the world. But there is a 2-3% chance that it may not happen. Please pray that there will be no problem." Mona Saroinsong, from the Church Crisis Centre believes that the local Muslim people will be very positive about Rev Damanik's impending release. "They have now discovered that Rev Damanik is a peaceful man and they will be pleased. However, there may be radical groups, especially from outside the region who may oppose it."   INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS OF COMPASSION, September 28, 2004.   November 7, 2003. "My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, Through my colleague as God's servant and partner in humanitarian work, Mona Saroinsong, I would like to send my greetings personally to all of you. I would like to convey this personally directly to you, but I believe you understand my limitation being detained in prison. To have the chance to talk to Mona to pass this greetings to you, is already a fortune for me. This all could happen because of God's mercy through all you who enable me to have this privilege. Thank you very much from the deep of my heart for your concerns, helps and supports in any ways, including the pressures to our government especially through your prayers, sharing informations, as well as financially. I personally thank you all very much. In short, there are no words can express my feelings and thoughts. In whole of my live now and in the future, I will never ever pay you personally directly, but I only can always pray that may God help and strengthen me to do my best in serving God through my service to others around me and every where, where ever, when ever I am. FYI, up to now I have received 14.806 mails: letters, cards, photos, poems, paintings, including pens, note books, envelopes, chocolates, candies/sweets, and adhesives plasters from adults, teenagers and children from all over the world: USA, The Netherlands, Finland, Brazil, Canada, Spain, Italy, Cameron, Germany, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, The Philippines, France, Malaysia, Vietnam, UK, Indonesia, Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, South Africa, China, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Austria, Croatia, Sudan, Turkey, Angola, Botswana and Myanmar/Burma (36 counties). Although at the moment I am very bothered, sad, worried, as well as angry with what happened in Central Sulawesi and Indonesia in general, I still and will always praise God all the time in my life for everything I have been experiencing up to now. Being in this prison really make me more realize the miracle of God, because I can understand more what God means by saying: "I will never leave you be alone". I can see that there are many many people who suffer more than me. Please think and pray for them, too. Every day I'm sure that I will have something to eat, to wear and a place to sleep, but as you know many others don't have this privilege. I am not alone, I am in good condition. Don't worry too much about me, but please help me through our other sisters and brothers in Indonesia and all over the world who are in great need of help in many ways. Thanks for Jubilee Campaign through Ann Buwalda who shares through Mona their concern about a girl named Natasha, who was raped in Pakistan and her case is now in the process of law. I know there are many other Natashas around the world, and also thanks to the Voice of the Martyrs whose magazine I received some days a go, where I also read about Sister Li Ying in Wu Han, who is sentenced for 15 years imprisonment for her vocal in voicing God's love and also I would like to thank you all very much for helping those who suffers because of their courageous to voice God's words. God wants us to have work and to be active to help others, because we are all one in God. Again, THANK YOU THANK YOU VERY MUCH from the deep of my heart to you all, and please pass this to all of your networks. I repeat what I have said to you before, and I and my family still believe that: TO REACH THE DAWN, ONE MUST PASS THE DARK OF NIGHT and ONE DAY DEFINITELY TEARS WILL BECOME SPRING. Many greetings thanks also from my family: my wife Atika, my daughter Nanda and from the members of GKST, in particular the Crisis Center GKST. GOD BLESS YOU".   Yours with love in God, Rinaldy Damanik   SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2003 Because Rev Damanik's appeal is before the Supreme Court in Jakarta, only they [the Supreme Court] can authorise his ongoing detention. A letter should have been sent to the justice dept in Central Sulawesi giving this authorisation. However it was not received by the due date (Sep 15), meaning, according to Indonesian law, Rev Damanik is a free man and cannot be held in the prison. His lawyers attempted to remove Damanik from prison but it became obvious that it was going to cause quite a stir and may lead to violence from both those opposed to Rev Damanik (if they discovered he had been freed) and from his supporters (in the event that the authorisation finally arrived and he had to be re-arrested and sent back to prison!). So, Damanik preferred to remain in prison and have his lawyers pursue the matter directly with the Supreme Court, who alone can sort out the confusion. So as of today (Sep 22) Rev Damanik remains in prison in Palu and no authorisation has yet come from Jakarta regarding his status. A most unusual situation, but not surprising, given the number of other inconsistencies that have surrounded the whole arrest and conviction.   September 16, 2003 Rev Damanik continues to be held in prison at Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The High Court recently endorsed the outcome of the local Palu court to find him guilty of the charge of 'carrying illelgal weapons' and he faces another two years in prison. Meanwhile an appeal against the legitimacy of the case is being made to the Supreme Court in Jakarta and an outcome on that is expected very soon.