Jakarta Post: Clarification on Falun Gong

By Henny Sundari Gunawan

Your Letter

March 13, 2002

In order to rebut the negative news that has been circulating these past few days and which has completely misled people, as Falun Gong practitioners, we would like to enlighten your readers with the information below.

1. The Himpunan Falun Gong Indonesia is an association legally registered under the Ministry of Justice, North Jakarta, No.110/Leg/2000, dated Nov. 29, 2000. The organization is not profit-oriented, has nothing to do with religious or political matters, does not collect fees from its practitioners/participants, and serves the public on a voluntary basis and free of charge.

2. Falungong, or Falun Dafa, is a practice to improve health and moral quality, relieve stress, create inner peace and develop wisdom and promote spiritual growth with its principles of "Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance".

3. Falungong is not a religion and does not have any ritualized activities. Falun Dafa does not represent any political grouping, and does not get involved in politics.

4. On March 2 and 3, 2002, Himpunan Falun Gong Indonesia organized a conference and parade in Jakarta based on the permit from the National Police, no. Pol. SI/DIT-B/122/II/BAINTELKAM. The participants were 627 Falungong practitioners from 11 countries: Australia, Taiwan, America, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, Malaysia, Thailand, the People's Republic of China, Korea and Indonesia.

5. The parade on March 3, 2002 was canceled due to interference from the Chinese Embassy. Indonesia is a country with democracy-based spiritual belief systems, which is definitely not the same as the Communist ideology in mainland China, and therefore, we openly invite readers to understand more about the truth.

Books about the practice of Falungong are widely sold around the world: here in Indonesia they are produced by the largest book publisher, Gramedia. The philosophy of Falungong can be summarized in three words: Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance, or Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20020313.D03&irec=2

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