How churches and ministries in Indonesia navigate accepting—and refunding—donations from corruption and other sources that conflict with biblical ethics.
Indonesia’s Catholic community learned last year that thousands of dollars donated by a public official were proceeds from a multimillion-dollar telecom bribery case.
Johnny Gerard Plate, a cabinet minister before he was sentenced to a 15-year prison term, had a history of donating to his religious community in Indonesia’s Christian-majority East Nusa Tenggara province.
The court’s decision stated that a portion of these graft funds had been allocated to church institutions, including the Kupang archdiocese, Widya Mandira Catholic University, and the Timor Evangelical Christian Church, a Protestant group in Kupang. Following Plate’s conviction, Catholic authorities pledged to return these donations, emphasizing their commitment to ethical financial practices.
This is not the first time Christian officials involved in corruption cases have donated illegal funds to religious organizations. In 2017, former sea transport director general Antonius Tonny Budiono was found guilty of accepting bribes. During the trial, he stated to the judges that he used the funds for orphan care and for renovating a damaged church and school. In response to this case, Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) challenged religious institutions, including churches, to conduct financial audits to promote transparency.
In a country where the corruption situation has seemingly deteriorated in recent years, CT asked Indonesian church and ministry leaders: “Should a Christian organization ever accept a donation gained from an unethical source?” Answers are arranged from firmly “No” to more nuanced stances:
Jimmy Kawilarang, director of Torchbearers Indonesia, West Java:
Churches and ministries …