Brigadier General Police Jimmy
Palmer Sinaga, an Adventist lay member has been recently appointed as chief of
the police in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province. The announcement came on
January 29 at the National Police School in Manado.
Sinaga was formerly the graduate
program director of the College of Police Science at the Institute of Police
Education in Jakarta. In his introductory speech, he took the opportunity to
introduce his wife and two sons. He said, “In the future, I request the same
support that you have shown to Brig Gen Kaligis during his stint as the Chief
of Police. I know that the people in North Sulawesi are loving and caring
people as evident in their motto ‘sitou
timou tumou tou’ (man lives to help other men live) and ‘torang semua basudara’ (all of us are
brothers and sisters).”
He wants to continue police force’s efforts to eradicate excessive alcohol
consumption, which is often the cause of crime and violence. North Sulawesi is
well known for their local strong alcoholic beverage, cap tikus, made from fermented coconut water.
A native of North Sumatera,
Sinaga is a member of the MT Haryono Adventist Church in Jakarta. He was public
affaires and religious liberty coordinator for many years.
On February 15,
Sinaga attended Sabbath service at the Governor’s Hall together with his family
and the Mayor of Manado, Godbless Vicky Lumentut. Sinaga was proud and happy to
have his sons visit with them in their new home in Manado. The older is a
practicing lawyer and the younger, a Police Inspector in the Brimob Corps.
“As a newcomer to this region, I
want to spend as much time with our Adventist members in the different
churches. I want to get to know them,” he stated in his speech before the
Sabbath sermon.
Sinaga recalls his previous official visits to Manado.
Nevertheless, he was happy to see the friendly faces of the Adventist church
members. He appealed for them to continually pray for him as he assumes his new
responsibility to maintain peace and religious freedom in North Sulawesi.
Richard Sabuin, seminary dean of
Adventist International Institute of Advance Studies, located in the Philippines,
was speaker that Sabbath and was happy to have the Manado mayor and the chief
of police worshipping with the members of Tikala Adventist Church and other
neighboring churches.
North Sulawesi is a province in
east Indonesia. The Adventist union headquarters in east Indonesia (EIUC) is
located in north Sulawesi’s capital and largest city, Manado. EIUC oversees its
more than 700 churches and over 101,000 Adventist members.
