Singapore/Jakarta: In Tondano, near the north-east tip of the island of Sulawesi, south-east Asia’s first Holocaust museum was unveiled last month.
The brainchild of Rabbi Yaakov Baruch, who operates Indonesia’s only synagogue in the lakeside town, its opening on International Holocaust Remembrance Day was witnessed by more than 100 invitees, among them local and district government representatives and foreign diplomats including the ambassador of Germany.
On show inside the synagogue compound so far is simply a photo exhibition, but for Baruch it is the fulfilment of a long-held ambition.
“I had a dream that one day I could open up a museum in Indonesia to educate people about the Holocaust,” he said.
“Our goal is that it is not only for Jews. The message of the museum is that racism and hatred must be fought from early on before it is too late.“
In the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, however, its establishment has not been welcomed by all with open arms.
The Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), a group of scholars that oversees Islamic affairs, has called for the museum to be shut.
“I beg the local government … this hurts the Palestinian people,” said Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, the head of the MUI’s international relations unit.
Read the article by Chris Barrett and Karuni Rompies in The Sydney Morning Herald.