What tolerance means?
Tolerance meaning the ability or willingness to deal with a particular opinion or behavior that is different from what we believe or prefer. One of the easiest examples is regarding the different faith.
Living side by side peacefully despite the different faiths is an example of tolerance shown by the residence of Wiyung in Surabaya, Indonesia. The people of this residential area come together to build not one, but six different worship places in one area.
Six different religions
The residents of Royal Residence Wiyung in Surabaya, Indonesia came from different backgrounds. At the beginning of the area's inhabitant in 2009, there was no worship house at all. This matter then brought to attention by the resident, including the Muslims that want to perform Friday prayer.
At that time, Muslim residents need to drive or ride their motorcycles to the nearest mosque outside the complex. It turned out that the resident from other religions is experiencing the same issue. They have to go quite far just to perform their prayer.
The housing developer had communicated to the resident that this residential area did not have any worship house. However, the representative of the residents then bring back the issues to the attention in 2014 and ask the developer if it's possible to build a worship house in the neighborhood.
After some discussions, they came to a decision to build not only one but six worship houses in a 400-meter square of land that was left in the area. This decision came after the people chose worship houses over a community market.
These worship houses were built to accommodate each and every religion that exists among the residents.
Kredit: @hasrsanto_santoso
This initiative is supported whole-heartedly by all residents. They do the monetary funding together and looking for sponsors to finance the development.
The construction started with the Masjid Al-Muhajirin, followed by the churches, temple, and monastery. Some of the temple ornaments were even imported straight from China.
Not only developing the physical building, but the resident also started a community to organize the activity among all six religions. This organization is responsible for the scheduling of mass activity and maintaining communication between all residents regarding the use of this worship house complex.
Credit: @robert_xu76
The Masjid Al-Muhajirin, Catholic Church, Protestant Church, Vihara Buddhayana Royal, are standing side by side with the Hindu and Buddhist temple as well as the monastery. The building's architecture added some aesthetic nuance to this beautiful and peaceful neighborhood.
Furthermore, the community organization decided not to use any bell nor drums in any of the worship houses to respect each other's comfort. This inter-religious harmony shows the face of Indonesia as a melting pot of culture, races, and religions.
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