Restricted Access Nation - Apprehended!

Apprehended!

More than 10 officers came at 1010 am (Sunday). A few Asian teachers were at hand together with twenty over top local leaders in our four hundred square feet seminar room. My early assessment was that we were in no physical danger. This gave us hope. We were very concerned but not cowed. I texted the message, “We are busted!” to my organiser and his Operations Director. My Board Member, Bro D was just ten minutes into his teaching. He and wife will later be ‘interviewed’ the longest.

There were a few miracles. My son, who never text me while I am overseas, sent this ominous message to me on Saturday, “Dad, if the police and the military are watching, do not teach.” This was a message from Him and I should have been more alert. Sis CF and Bro D managed to destroy more than 10 video tapes recordings of the just concluded Conference and the class. However, 3 were left together with 1 head cleaning tape. At the end of all the interviews they sat Bro D and his wife with me for one final session. They asked for the 4 tapes which they have seen when the raid occurred. This is a major miracle as 4 undestroyed tapes were produced. They viewed it but there was no audio. I was teaching in one of them. I remembered talking about President Bush’s leadership.

At the end of the about thirty over individual interviews, the authorities concluded that the class as, "Training of Social Development Workers, but with an element of Christianity." This was the track I have taken as our approach was secular, management oriented though much of the teaching was the Bible and with Biblical examples and illustrations.

The night before the raid I had seen a shadowy figure among the trees in the hotel’s compound thinking that was one of the students or hotel’s workers. I think we need to be careful when bringing Caucasians to visit. We have been compromised by their presence on Saturday morning.

The event coordinators Ap and Jan were excellent in controlling the situation to our advantage putting calmness and confidence in us all.

The local brethren were polite with the officers but firm in asking for fairness. They also displayed an innocent calm as the officers explained the law to them and us. They also protested the video taping of us and the taking of photographs.

The officers were polite but there was one who was fierce and rude but he is only doing his job together working in tandem to extract from us what they wanted. It is important not to be taken by their politeness as they maneuvered us into a corner. They also employed one to watch our body and non-verbal languages as another asked questions.

From this particular experience (may not applicable to others) we recognized our rights:

1. To be treated politely.
2. Not to sign anything that we do not understand esp. written in a language we are not familiar/good in.
3. Need not to place our fingerprint on a document if it can be done by signing.
4. To lawyer and consular help (however be careful here as we may not need them).
5. Ladies can demand for the door to be opened when she is in the midst of man/men in the interview/interrogation room.
6. Need not admit or confess that we are wrong without a court pronouncement.
7. It is OK for them to declare our activities illegal in the statement that needed to be signed. It is unilateral anyway.

My recommendations:

1. No foreign looking people near any future training sites.
2. The teachers are to be briefed on what to do in the event of a raid as well as on what to do and say.
3. Be vigilant and it is better to err on the side of caution.
4. Include elements of secular, management and social into the training.
5. Organizers need to map a strategy together with teachers and students on a clear line of action/answering questions if raided.
6. No audio and video recording.
7. No printed notes to be given to students. The teachers are to use handwritten notes (not verbatim).
8. The whiteboard is to be wiped clean immediately after class and during intervals.

Finally:

1. We experience the love of God, the love of our local brethren who were very concern for us as well as they felt bad that we have to suffer with them.
2. This is an experience that we do not welcome but it is also a feather on our cap in our ministerial experience and a story that will be told as a glory to God.
3. We will also be watching out for emotional depletion if there is of this experience as it may come in 1 day or in a week…
4. We wish to see this incident as giving us the notion that we are on the right track as all good ministry will be opposed!
5. We want to believe that this incident will not dent the momentum of the ministry but instead provide the momentum for more classes.