Winantea Listiahadi, Decades of Promoting Tolerance

Defri Werdiono

· 6 minutes read

When the monetary crisis plagued Indonesia two decades ago, Buddhist Priest Winantea Listiahadi (now 71 years old) started the idea of holding an iftar event among Muslims who were fasting during the month of Ramadan.

The activities have continued to this day. Tolerance has been carried for the last 21 days of Ramadan.

At his old age, Priest Winantea, or commonly called Romo or Father by the community of Buddhists at Bodhimanda-Sanggar Suci Lawang Monastery, still took his time to mingle with dozens of people who filled the semi-permanent building on Jl Dr Wahidin, Lawang, Malang regency, East Java, on Thursday evening.

The iftar event has been held there for decades. Winantea also took part in distributing dishes of chicken curry for breaking the fast that evening. After all the rice was distributed and finished, Winantea again prepared to distribute gifts in the form of snacks. The gifts varied: instant noodles, snacks and tea or milk boxes.

The iftar participants, comprising children and adults, received the gift happily. Moreover, some of them are poor people, widows and even street children who live around the temple. Apart from them, many motorcycle drivers who crossed the area also stopped by to break the fast.

The man who has served as leader of the Pondok Metta community, located on the Sanggar Suci Monastery, did not want to stay silent. He came to help the committee prepare the food for breaking the fast, which has regularly been carried out during the last 18 days of the month of Ramadan. The event’s venue is located about 150 meters from his residence, right on the edge of the Malang-Surabaya highway.

“If I have time, I will help. The problem is that the road to the venue is partially damaged. There are holes. Besides that, I also have gout," he said, smiling lightly when talking with Kompas a few hours during the breaking-of-the-fast gathering.

Winantea explained how he began holding the breaking-of-the-fast event in 1998. He initiated the joint iftar activity when he was still leading the Sanggar Suci Monastery from 1974 to 2015. At that time, he saw a lot of fruit and food donations piling up in the monastery.

In fact, food that was still good and worthy of eating would have certainly been more beneficial if given to other people in need. He then decided to give the food to others by inviting the surrounding residents to have iftar together. Usually the food is distributed to poor people and beggars who pass in front of the temple.

Many residents joined the iftar activities. Moreover, at that time the price of basic necessities soared due to the economic crisis. Winantea then contacted the members of the Metta community regarding the idea. The Metta community, which is an arisan (rotating savings gathering) group, was formed in 1995. At present, it comprises hundreds of members from across the country. Most of the members are Buddhists and some have other beliefs, including Islam. Funds from this arisan activities are set aside for the breaking-of-the-fast event held every year.

"There was no objection from the Metta community. They are very supportive until now," Winantea said.

Not political

Winantea acknowledged that the breaking-of-the-fast event had pros and cons. However, he believes the activities are not political. The activities are held voluntarily as part of religious tolerance. This joint activity was able to last decades because it is positive and has the support of many people.

Likewise, as a vegetarian, a man who was educated in chemistry at one of the universities in Surabaya, East Java, often got objections because he gave food coming from animals.

"They said it was not good for vegetarians to feed people meat. I did not agree with them. If you could not get a score of 100, it did not mean you totally failed. You might get 50 or 60,” he said.

Winantea\'s concern for others is not only manifested in the breaking-of-the-fast activities. Since 1998, there were at least six activities that had been regularly carried out, such as giving free milk to children under 5. There were also activities related to the distribution of stationery, which was carried out under a back-to-school program and the distribution of clothes to people who were in need.

Unfortunately, not all of these programs can be maintained, except the breaking-of-the-fast event and the distribution of rice for the poor during the celebration of Waisak.

Winantea said that the social activities related to the distribution of free milk to children under 5 only lasted five years. In this program, he distributed milk as part of a healthy child competition. All participants got the free milk, even if they lost in the competition. This competition took place every Sept. 22 or held as part of the commemoration of Independence Day.

"Usually, the contestants were mostly adults. Children were rare. Incidentally, I read in the newspaper that milk prices had soared due to the monetary crisis. I felt a pity on the poor, so I distributed free milk through a competition. The people welcome the idea and the response was quite positive. The source of the funds for the free milk distribution was the same as those for the iftar. All came from the members of the Metta community,” he said.

According to the priest, he did all the activities based of a humanitarian reason and tolerance. Humanity and tolerance do not see differences; people are all the same.

"Good deeds need to be carried out so that they are emulated by others," he said.

Likewise, being tolerant also makes us better

He also hopes that his ideas and what he has done can spread not only to residents around Lawang but also to other areas in Indonesia. Regarding tolerance, according to Winantea, everything that is good must have temptations and obstacles. He analogizes that as a tree, the higher a tree, the more intense the wind will be. The strong wind will make the tree grow stronger. Likewise, being tolerant also makes us better, according to Winantea.

If some people are intolerant, they are only a small part of the country.

Winantea Listiahadi

Born: Tegal, Jan. 5, 1948

Education:

- Elementary (SD) and junior high school (SMP) in Tegal

- SMP and senior high school (SMA) in Surabaya

- IKIP Surabaya

Position:

- 1974-2015, the head of Bodhimanda-Sanggar Suci Lawang Monastery

- 2015-now, the head of Pondok Metta Lawang community

Editor:

kompascetak