Catholics from several NGOs held a remembrance service at the weekend at the grave of Ignatius Joseph Kasimo Hendrowahyono, a Catholic politician recently named a national hero by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Chairman of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference (KWI)’s Commission for the Laity, Holy Family Bishop Yustinus Harjosusanto of Tanjung Selor, led the prayers on Saturday in the Kalibata heroes cemetery in South Jakarta.

“Kasimo deserves national hero status. As a major figure in our independence struggle, he contributed to the development of pluralism in Indonesia,” said Harry Tjan Silalahi, from the Association of Catholic Graduates and Intellectuals in Indonesia (ISKA).

Kasimo showed us how to serve a nation with ethics and dignity, the former secretary-general of the now defunct Catholic Party, added.

Muliawan Margadana, the ISKA chairman, said Kasimo was an independence fighter who made Indonesian Catholics an inseparable part of the nation.

“He was one of the most important figures in the independence struggle” against the Dutch, he added.

Apart from being a leading fighter for independence, Kasimo, who died in 1986, was also the founder of the Indonesian Catholic Party and the Catholic University of Atma Jaya.

He was one of seven people given national hero status by Yudhoyono during a November 8 ceremony at the state palace in Jakarta.

Related Report:

Seminars commemorate Catholic hero (http://www.ucanews.com/2011/07/28/seminars-commemorate-catholic-hero/)