Story number 1 for 8 Mar 2001

(Indonesia)–We begin today’s newscast in Indonesia where ethnic violence in Borneo has claimed nearly 500 lives. 65-thousand people have been evacuated. Far East Broadcasting Company is broadcasting in the region. FEBC’s President Jim Bowman. “What disturbs me more than anything is the difficulty that the government of Indonesia has in resolving it. It’s reaction in going in and trying to resolve thing like this is just confusion. It doesn’t seem to know what to do. And, reports I got from our director, even the police and the military were fighting with each other.” Bowman says they’re producing a program addressing the ethnic tensions. Surprisingly, Indonesian stations are airing it. “Most of those local stations are not owned by Christians, they’re owned by Muslims. This shows that there is Christian programming that is very, very attractive to Muslims, especially the program that helps people deal with the problems of daily life in a very compassionate way. And then that leads them in to what I would call a very straight evangelistic approach.”