On 9 February 2024, the Indonesian Bible Society (LAI) will be 70 years old. The long journey of the Indonesian Bible Institute cannot be separated from the support of tens and even thousands of lay people who are willing to spend part or even all of their lives in the ministry of translating and spreading the Word of God.
Long before the founding of the LAI, the ministry of Bible transmission in Indonesia received support from many non-theologians who dedicated their lives to the ministry of Bible transmission. Two of these laymen were Cohen Stuart and GP Khouw. They can be credited with pioneering the establishment of the Bible institute in Indonesia.
Dr Combertus Pieter Cohen Stuart was a Biological Scientist, specialising in plant diseases and epidemics, working at the Tea Laboratory. Although Cohen Stuart's position was comfortable and well-paid, a strong call to serve the church and Christians continued to stir the hearts of Cohen Stuart and his wife, Maria Wilhemina Catherine Stuart-Francken. Both decided to leave the cushy chairs and big salaries behind. They wanted to devote themselves to serving God. Only, they didn't understand how to serve God. When Cohen Stuart and his wife went on leave to the Netherlands between 1927-1928, they sought information about opportunities to serve God in the Dutch churches.
Before they returned to Java, Stuart's wife and husband were introduced to the board of the British Bible Society (British and Foreign Bible Society-BFBS) in London. The timing coincided with the British Bible Society's efforts to change its representative organisation in Southeast Asia, based in Singapore. Stuart's husband and wife's desire to serve was accepted by the British Bible Society.BFBS in London.
The Bible Society appointed Ernst Tipson as the new head of the Singapore representative. Meanwhile, Cohen Stuart chose Malang in East Java as the starting place for his church service. The British Bible Society chose Malang as the centre of activity for East Java because it could also reach the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara, from Bali in the west to Timor in the far east).
The ministry of the two servants of God was very encouraging, apart from the sincerity of their work, it was also supported by the developments that swept Europe, especially the Netherlands. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, there were many Christian students who aspired to give the best of their lives to the church. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Christian Student Union (NCSV) became a member of the World Christian Student Federation (WSCF). Most of the students devote themselves to church activities, until the end of their lives.
In Indonesia, the ministry of Cohen Stuart and the British Bible Society experienced significant growth. The British Bible Society's house in Bandung, beginning in 1912, was leased to the Lectuur Commissie, the Reading Commission of the Dutch East Indies Zending Labour Bureau. The large room in the house was used by the Dutch Bible Society as a warehouse and shop. The house in Bandung was known as Balai Alkitab or Het Bijbelhuis.
At Cohen Stuart's residence in Malang, a collportage business was opened, which the British Bible Society considered very important. He also appointed three people as collporters, namely Salam Mathias, Kartawikrama, and Ie Tjin Sin.
Cohen Stuart's residence in Malang opened a collportage business, which the British Bible Society considered important.
Service Together
In addition to Cohen Stuart and the British Bible Society (BFBS) ministering to the dissemination of the Bible in Batavia and its environs, at the same time a committee was formed to assist and develop the work of the Dutch Bible Society (Nederlands BijbelgenootschapNBG) and all its existing branches. Cohen Stuart was also asked to sit on the committee formed by the NBG. This shows that the NBG basically wanted to co-operate with the BFBS in the development of its ministry in Indonesia. However, it was also recognised that the presence of two national Bible institutes working in the same field would create problems of overlapping work. Besides overlapping, it would also lead to ineffectiveness of the ministry. Moreover, at that time the Bible supply centres were located in three places: Bandung, Malang and Singapore. Some argued that, for efficiency and effectiveness, the two institutions should be centralised in one place.
Therefore, the BFBS, in 1936, agreed to the NBG's request to allow Cohen Stuart, not only to represent the BFBS in Indonesia but also to represent the NBG.
In 1937 the British Bible Society visited its Dutch counterpart. From this meeting it was agreed to transfer Cohen Stuart from Malang to his new post in Bandung (Balai Alkitab). The day-to-day leadership was retained by a representative of the Dutch Bible Society, who reported to the British Bible Society in London. On 1 January 1938, the ministries of the two Bible institutes (BFBS and NBG) in Indonesia officially merged.
After some time in Bandung, Cohen Stuart moved from Jl. Nieuw Merdika to a house on Burgemester Kuhrwerg, now Jalan Purnawarman. A large warehouse was built in the backyard. After completing the new residence, Stuart took a year's sabbatical in Europe, from May 1938 to June 1939. This was the seventh year of his tenure at the British Bible Institute. His representative in Bandung, the head of the HIS, was M. Bijleveld.
Cohen Stuart returned to Bandung, in July 1939, just two months before the outbreak of World War II. Those who served in the Bible Institute were moved and realised that the time had come to prepare for the establishment of an independent national Bible institute, independent of the NBG and BFBS. Independent steps had to be taken to deal with the possibility of the Netherlands becoming involved in a war. The Dutch Bible Society immediately sent crates of Bibles and books by ship.
The Chairman of the Dutch East Indies Commission of the NBG wrote in the 1938 inaugural issue of God's Word, ”…How and in what way itoe (the establishment of a Bible institute) can be done, this is a matter for the future; in all things we want to proceed slowly.“ Presumably he himself sensed that World War II would bring many changes to the situation in both the Netherlands and Indonesia.Indeed, the situation in Europe in the run-up to and during World War II was appalling. Tens of thousands of people were held behind barbed wire fences in German concentration camps. As a result, the BFBS and its representatives were unable to get in touch with staff and contacts who were prisoners of war. In addition, because of the war, transport links were broken. The only way to distribute Bibles was by ship. Faced with such an emergency, there had to be a real step to replace the BFBS in serving Christians. The American Bible Society (ABS), endeavoured to replace the role of the BFBS which was no longer able to carry out the tasks of distributing the Bible to Christians in Britain, Europe and in other parts of the world.
In Indonesia, the critical conditions of the Japanese occupation of Java were not much different. Cohen Stuart and his wife were taken prisoner by the Japanese and put into an internment camp. In prison Cohen Stuart became ill and his health declined. Not unlike the fate of many unfortunate prisoners of war, Stuart, who spent nine years as the head of the BFBS representative in Malang and later Bandung, finally passed away in Kramat internment camp, Jakarta, in September 1945. Stuart went to be with the Lord, leaving behind many ministries.
Luckily, before the war broke out and the Japanese army landed, the Bible Institute gained a new pearl in the person of Giok Pwee Khouw or better known as Wim Khouw.
Wim Khouw was born in Karawang on 30 July 1911. In 1929, he entered the College of Law (Rechtshogeschool) in Batavia/Jakarta. During his studies, he became a member of the Christian student movement (CSV op Java) and thus often attended discussions with other Christian students at Jalan Kebon Sirih 33, Jakarta.
In 1936, Khouw travelled as a delegate of the Christian students of the Dutch East Indies (the name before Indonesia's independence) to attend the Conference of the World Federation of Christian Students (World Student Christian Federation, WSCF) in Berkeley, California. Interestingly, even though he was the representative of the Dutch East Indies Christian students, Wim Khouw had not been baptised. It was only after returning from California that G.P. Khouw received baptism.
In 1939, he completed his studies in law school. Two years later, he was hired by Cohen Stuart as an assistant for the work of Bible supply and distribution. During the war years (1942-1945), when Stuart and his wife went to internment camps, it was Khouw who continued the work of the Bible Society in Indonesia. He received permission to print the Old Testament in Malay and was even allowed to print the New Testament in Dutch for the inmates of the internment camps. In addition, he sent the remaining supplies of Bibles and portions of Bibles to various churches in Indonesia. To avoid any untoward contingencies, the books in Bandung were left with the churches, to be retrieved as needed.
In late 1944, the Japanese occupation army felt the need to expand the brothel located adjacent to the Bible Hall in Bandung. As a result, the hall was confiscated. Nonetheless, the Japanese soldiers helped move the contents of the house and warehouse to another house, which was still located on the same street. While moving the goods, the Japanese soldiers found a pile of books and magazines in a crate which they took out and read the contents. The soldiers' faces changed. Suspicion arose in their minds. After reading the Gospel of Mark, their suspicions grew. They thought the book contained a cipher record of plans for an Allied military attack on Marcus Island, which was then occupied by Japan and located not far from the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The aftermath of the war still remains a cause for concern. The Bible Centre in Bandung is still in dispute over its ownership. This time, the centre was sued by the Dutch military commander. After that, a lawsuit also came from the Siliwangi Division. For this reason, the depot of the Bandung Bible Institute had to be moved to the zending house on Jalan Pasir Kaliki 2, next to the Pasundan Church.
The political situation due to the feud between Indonesia and the Netherlands continued to float. Connections between Jakarta or elsewhere and the centre of the Bible institute in Bandung were difficult. The only good and safe means of transport was flight. As a result, GP Khouw did not feel at home doing business in Bandung. He proposed to open a new depot in Makassar. The Dutch Bible Institute accepted the proposal to move to Makassar. Khouw and his wife Henriette (Jet) Cohen Stuart, who was the daughter of Dr CP Cohen Stuart, left for Makassar in mid-1946. After three years of working on various NBG programmes in Indonesia from Makassar, Khouw left for the Netherlands and continued his tour by attending the World Bible Societies conference (United Bible Societies) in New York in 1949. Thus ended GP Khouw's work for the Netherlands Bible Society in the pre- and post-war phases.
On 9 February 1954, the Indonesian Bible Institute was officially established with the signing of the deed of establishment before notary Elisa Pondaag in Jakarta. GP Khouw was one of the figures behind the establishment. Khouw, who had known Reverend W.J. Rumambi (3rd General Secretary of LAI) when he served in Makassar, served as the first General Secretary of LAI and worked closely with Wim Rumambi (General Secretary of DGI) in Jakarta. The two pioneering figures of the Bible Society are said to be Wim's loyal and dedicated duo in managing the ministry of the LAI.
LAI's activities as a national institution began in a house at 34 Teuku Umar Street, Jakarta. The house was actually prepared as the residence of the representative of the Dutch Bible Society, GP Khouw and was purchased for £7000. The house, which was originally to be Wim Khouw's residence, also functioned as an office and warehouse. So it became overcrowded. Until when the General Secretary of the NBG, Baron van Tuyll came to Indonesia in the 50s, he was shocked to see the overcrowded office.
GP Khouw always worked diligently on his calling. He always tried to find breakthroughs in the development of LAI. The breakdown of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and the Netherlands in the 1960s led Wim Khouw to accompany his wife and make the decision to migrate back to the Netherlands. Wim Khouw gave up his beloved Indonesian nationality and followed the nationality of his wife, Jet. Until his departure to the Netherlands in 1964, Khouw continued to endeavour to establish an independent Bible printing press and take on various tasks he deemed necessary to further the ministry of the Indonesian Bible Society. In the Netherlands Khouw continued to be active in the ministry of the Bible Society. He held various functions in the NBG; among others, he was the foreign secretary of the NBG. In Indonesia he was replaced by Ph. J. Sigar, former private secretary to deputy prime minister J. Leimena. On 5 April 1980, Wim Khouw passed away in Harleem, Netherlands at the age of 69.
