05/19/2001

JAKARTA, May 19 (AFP) - Falungong, the spiritual group banned in China as an "[Chinese government's slanderous term omitted]", is gaining a foothold in Indonesia where followers are free to meditate and exercise without interference.

The chairman of Indonesian Falun Gong Association, Joko Buntar, said his group -- which obtained its license here in March last year -- had "no political agenda and is open for everyone."

"We are simply teaching people how to attain the spirit of eternal patience and goodness through physical movements and meditation without any distinction in race, ethnicity or religion," Buntar told AFP.

The Falun Gong, which claims to have tens of millions of followers in China, has been the target of an intensely hostile government propaganda campaign there.

It was banned in 1999 three months after 10,000 followers surrounded the Chinese leadership's Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing to protest against the arrests of some its members.

Buntar, an ethnic-Chinese businessman, says the group is becoming "warmly accepted here and has followers from every level of society" in Indonesia.

He said Falun Gong was occasionally "misperceived" by Indonesians who thought of it as a movement exclusively for ethnic Chinese- Indonesians.

But he said interest is growing and there are now around 1,500 Falun Gong practitioners in some 10 cities.

In Jakarta they hold morning exercise and meditation sessions six days a week in three different places across the capital.

"So far some 5,000 copies of the Indonesian guide book of Falun G ong have been sold by the publisher ... but the buyers might just be interested with our movement without routinely practising it," said Buntar.

He said the movement began to slowly spread across the country three years ago after several Chinese-Indonesians brought Falun Gong teachings from countries such as Australia and the United States.

"The Jakarta chapter has eight branches and the head of our branch in Depok (a suburb in south Jakarta) is a Javanese Muslim man who could see Falungong is free from politics and racial issues."

He also said the Indonesian authorities "never interfere or question" his group's activity.

"When we registered our group in March of last year at the North Jakarta district court, the court official said it wasn't really necessary for us to do so," Buntar said.

He said Muslims, Catholics or members of any religion could join the group, and that practitioners ranged from "professionals, including doctors and lawyers, to senior citizens."

Since he and several friends founded the Falungong Association here five years ago, he said the Chinese embassy had been silent.

"We have never received a direct query or harassment from the Chinese embassy here ... but during a recent meeting with eight Chinese-Indonesian community groups, they told them that [Chinese government's slanderous terms omitted]."

The association's secretary, Liman Kurniawan, also an ethnic- Chinese, said the teachings of Falungong, which include five-steps of coordinated arm movement and meditation, were "widely acceptable" for all Indonesians.

"Meditation is an age-old tradition widely practised by Javanese people here ... although Falungong's techniques are slightly different than the Javanese version but the goal remains the same -- to reach personal harmony."

Kurniawan, who claimed he was "a stressed-out businessman" before he discovered Falungong three years ago, urged Indonesians "not to judge a book by its cover.

"No religious mantras are used during our practice sessions ... the guide book used for understanding Falungong is available in Indonesian as well as in other foreign languages," he told AFP during an open air practice attended by both ethnic-Chinese and other Indonesians.