The worth of tolerance is practised commonly and broadly throughout the area, with one of the vital notable examples being side-by-side homes of worship in Batu Hitam, East Bunguran Sub-district, Natuna.
The 2 homes of worship, positioned within the Previous City of Penagi, are Al-Mukarramah Mosque, belonging to Muslims, and Pu Tek Chi Temple, belonging to Confucians.
The gap between the 2 homes of worship is roughly two meters, and the 2 buildings have comparable sizes. Al-Mukarramah Mosque is presently present process renovation.
Regardless of being constructed facet by facet, no circumstances had but been heard of non secular teams complaining out of discomfort or prohibiting each other from doing their worship. The 2 non secular teams have coexisted peacefully for a few years.
Their tolerance is within the type of offering each other house to hold out the teachings of their respective religions in keeping with the religions’ holy books.
Excessive tolerance within the Previous City of Penagi, Natuna, earns the area the Non secular Modernization Village standing from the Ministry of Non secular Affairs.
With the area decreed as a non secular modernization village, it’s hoped that the harmonious relations in Natuna can unfold to a number of different areas in Indonesia. Ultimately, it could strengthen inter-religious tolerance within the nation.
Aside from the Previous City of Penagi in Batu Hitam, East Bunguran, the Ministry of Non secular Affairs additionally bestowed the identical standing upon Sedanau Sub-district.
Tradition
Most individuals in Natuna are Malay and converse within the Malay language. What’s attention-grabbing is that the Malay language utilized by folks in Natuna is equivalent to the Terengganu Malay Language utilized in Malaysia.
Language similarity occurred, as the primary chief of the area was Datuk Kaya, a descendant of the Patani Sultanate who as soon as reigned over the northern a part of the Malay peninsula, specifically Kelantan and Terengganu.
Malay tradition flourished in Natuna. Nonetheless, Malay folks on the island by no means prohibit different ethnicities from persevering with their cultural traditions. Ethnicities exterior Malay are free to carry out or function their cultures to precise them.
An instance of cultural variety is the earth alms ceremony performed by the Javanese folks, who principally dwell within the Central Bunguran Sub-district.
The Natuna District Authorities additionally assigned representatives to attend cultural occasions held by ethnicities exterior of Malay.
Earth alms is a convention generally adopted by the Javanese folks yearly, normally after a harvest. The custom is a type of gratitude to God for having offered them with sustenance by way of Planet Earth within the type of yields from their fields. The exercise is normally enlivened by the Kuda Lumping dance, an artwork and cultural heritage from Java.
Clear proof that the Malay Natuna folks by no means prohibited non-Malay tradition was seen in 2023 in the course of the August seventeenth Independence Day celebration. The regional authorities provided house for cultural activists from numerous cultures to carry out their respective cultural arts to entertain and introduce their cultures to their successors and other people from different cultures.
The area people by no means protests such actions. As an alternative, they enliven it and assist these of different cultures search for requirements to create costumes and attributes.
The exercise, which was attended by 1000’s of individuals from a number of ethnicities, was profitable and vigorous. The identical exercise is deliberate to be performed in 2024.
Serving to Every Different
The excessive degree of tolerance can also be obvious from the nice and cozy welcome to the vacations, such because the Lunar New Yr celebrated by the Confucians.
On Lunar New Yr’s Eve, folks from Chinese language ethnic teams and non secular teams with comparable views in Natuna will beautify their temple and the street main as much as the temple with crimson lanterns. Additionally they dangle lanterns in entrance of their homes, and other people from different ethnic teams normally help in hanging the lanterns.
One other distinctive facet is the lion dancers within the Pu Tek Chi Temple. They arrive from different ethnicities, specifically Islamic Malays. Most viewers who watch the efficiency additionally come from different ethnicities and religions.
Throughout the Islamic Holidays, folks from different religions will enliven it in their very own particular methods, equivalent to by coming alongside across the metropolis on the eve of Eid (takbiran).
Folks proudly owning grocery outlets normally give out carbonated and canned drinks as bonuses for his or her Muslim clients. That method, Muslims can serve drinks to visiting visitors on Eid.
Some folks additionally donate cash to youth organizations to make plug-in mild installations in addition to buy gasoline and different tools to create the sunshine set up that’s normally assembled on the eve of Eid, each Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
By way of these examples, we are able to see that non secular teams in Natuna are profitable in sharing and offering house to respect one another’s non secular and ethnic uniqueness and variations with out feeling threatened or feeling that their beliefs and rights are being prohibited.
Natuna is a shining instance that regardless of Indonesia being constructed on completely different non secular beliefs, cultures, and ethnicities, it could possibly nonetheless stand united in peace.
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Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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