The death of John Allen Chau and the implications: Are Indians “tribals” still? What happened to human dignity and all?

The death of John Allen Chau and the implications: Are Indians “tribals” still? What happened to human dignity and all?

Are Indians “tribals” still? What happened to human dignity and all?: Recently, the death of one Christian hit missionary headlines and breaking news of international and national media with mixed reactions and died down within a weak. Most of the Indian media carried the news, just like that with sensation. Of course, the people of Sentinel have been made known to many, because of the media coverage. When the modernized, hi-tech and neo-global breed human species have been engaged in all sorts of terror activities, they still call the Indians as “tribals”! Comfortably, all forget the human dignity, human rights, privacy, individual rights and so many other stuff of modern day sermons. As usual, the Christia media cried foul and showered him as the martyr / sacrificial victim for Christian religion and so on. Had he been a Catholic, he would be canonized soon. However, as he violated the Acts and Rules of India and also involved in suspicious sojourns and other activities, evidently, all want to down play and forget. Ironically, the American Consulate Chennai knew the affairs rill death and thereafter.

John Allen Chu detah was reported by the American Consulate: The news about John Chau’s death was not detected by the Andaman and Nicobar Authorities, but was reported through an email from the American Consulate on November 19, 2018[1]; the consulate told the Island authorities that they had received information from John Chau’s mother that such an incident had taken place[2]. And, based on the email, the Andaman police registered a case under section 302/34 IPC against the tribe – basically, accusing them of murder. Zubair Ahmed has pointed out several cover-ups in the incidence. The intrusion into the territory of tribes has to be seen as a crime being committed and the case filed against the tribal members is nothing but a mockery of the regulations that are already in place. This is a stark reminder about the many lapses on the side of the authorities – of their failure to protect the tribe from such misadventures.There have been reports in the past of fishermen – both local as well as Myanmarese – found in the vicinity of the Island. Earlier, two fishermen whose country boat had drifted to the Islands in June 2006, were killed by the tribe and buried on the seashore, and the Sentinelese resisted attempts by the authorities to approach the Islands by shooting arrows.

“Satan’s Last Stronghold…?” US Man Wrote Before Death On Andaman Island[3]: The night before John Chau returned for the last time to North Sentinel Island, he struggled with a sense of fear that his death might be imminent. “I’m scared,” wrote the 26-year-old American from Washington State, who had traveled to the island on a clandestine mission to convert its inhabitants to Christianity. “Watching the sunset and it’s beautiful – crying a bit . . . wondering if it will be the last sunset I see.”  His initial contacts with the Sentinelese, a tiny tribe of hunter-gatherers who reject contact with the outside world, had not gone well. One teenager shot an arrow at him, which pierced his waterproof bible. Yet Chau decided to return to the island and try again, galvanized by the feeling that he was God’s instrument. “Lord, is this island Satan’s last stronghold where none have heard or even had the chance to hear your name?” he wrote in a diary of his last days provided to The Washington Post by his mother. Really, it is shocking because, who is/ was he to dub Indian island as “Satan’s last stronghold” and all? “A clandestine mission to convert its inhabitants to Christianity” could bring such a obnoxious attack on Indians?

Efforts to get the body: Police officials in Andaman Islands are trying to recover John Allen Chau’s body. He left the 13 pages, written in pen and pencil, with the fishermen who had transported him to the island. The morning after Chau’s final trip to the island’s shores, the fishermen saw his body being dragged and buried in the sand. Police in the city of Port Blair, the capital of India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, this week sent a helicopter and a team of officers by boat to assess whether it is possible to recover the body. U.S. diplomats are also in Port Blair to lend assistance. But, now, they abandoned for obvious reasons. So without burial, perhaps, he would not get ressurection, when the day of judgment comes! Or for him, there is no redemption.

Clandestine mission to convert its inhabitants to Christianity: Chau’s diary reveals a portrait of a young man obsessed with the idea of bringing Christianity to the Sentinelese, who number in the dozens and have lived largely without contact from the outside world for centuries, protected from visitors by Indian law[4]. It also shows that Chau knew his mission was illegal. He wrote of maneuvering to avoid the Indian authorities who patrol the waters near North Sentinel Island. “God Himself was hiding us from the Coast Guard and many patrols,” he stated in a description of the boat journey, according to Washington Post.  It suggests that Chau knew that his trip was dangerous and illegal[5]. He had told no one about his plan to hire local fishermen to take him to the tribal area because “he did not want to put others of his friends at risk,” one of his associates, Bobby Parks, wrote his mother after his death, according to an e-mailed she shared with The Post[6].

John Chaus’s illegal entries since 2015: John Allen Chau had made four prior trips to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands starting in 2015. Critics say his brazen violation of Indian law was selfish and put the fragile tribe at risk — potentially exposing them to modern diseases they have no immunity for. An avid traveler who graduated from Oral Roberts University, Chau had visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands four times before and was awed by the area’s natural beauty and isolation. On the boat to North Sentinel Island – traveling at night to avoid detection by authorities – Chau wrote of seeing bioluminescent plankton under a canopy of stars as fish jumped in and out of the water like “darting mermaids.” After paddling in a kayak to the island, Chau tried to engage the inhabitants by offering gifts of fish, scissors and safety pins and singing “worship songs.” A section of his diary is devoted to his impressions of the Sentinelese: He jotted down details of their language (“lots of high-pitched sounds”) and gestures. The Sentinelese fired arrows at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter that went to help after the 2004 tsunami. Toward the end of the journal, Chau wondered whether he should abandon his quest or return to the island and risk the consequences. “I think I could be more useful alive . . . but to you, God, I give all the glory of whatever happens,” Chau wrote. He asked God to forgive “any of the people on this island who try to kill me, and especially if they succeed.”

John Allen Chau: Who was US man killed in remote islands?[7]: BBC gives information about Chau under this caption.

1. Christian missionary: According to local officials, the 27-year-old was a Christian missionary.
2. Adventurer: But on social media and in an interview attributed to him, Chau presented himself as an adventurer.
3. Illegal entrant: According to reports, Chau was killed by Sentinelese tribal people after he bribed fishermen to take him to the island illegally. “Police said Chau had previously visited North Sentinel island about four or five times with the help of local fishermen,” journalist Subir Bhaumik, who has been covering the islands for years, told BBC Hindi.
4. Paramedic: Andaman Director of the General Police Dependra Pathak told the News Minute, an Indian news website, he was told that Chau lived in the US state of Alabama and was “some kind of paramedic”.
5. Portent killer of tribes: Advocacy group Survival International said that by contacting the community, Chau may have passed along pathogens that have the “potential to wipe-out the entire tribe” of about 50 to 150 people.

BBC makes him to be “Master of all” with dexterous capabilities[8]. Therefore, it becomes mysterious as to why he came there and what was the real intention.

Chau met holocaust survivor and imagined himself as “Jesus Christ”!: Christian travel organization says John Chau visited Jerusalem and heard from a Holocaust survivor during a 2015 visit, which he said later had strengthened his faith[9]. While there, he worked with the university’s missions and outreach department. According to the Covenant Journey organization, which organizes trips to Israel, Chau participated in a tour of the country in August 2015. Photos posted on the organization’s website show Chau meeting with a Holocaust survivor and visiting Jerusalem. “This trip impacted my faith by opening my eyes to the complete reality of being where Jesus Christ actually had been when He was my age!” Chau wrote[10]. Chau also posted snapshots from his visit on his Instagram account. Of course, it gives his general background as, Chau was from Washington state, where he attended Vancouver Christian High School. He went on to graduate from Oral Roberts University, a Christian college in Oklahoma, in 2014, with a degree in health and exercise science.

The  reaction of church etc: As pointed out, the missionaries reacted in their own way. The Christian media came out with the persecution stories. The source[11], who asked not to be named, said Chau wrote that he was “doing this to establish the kingdom of Jesus on the island … Do not blame the natives if I am killed.” Chau also said in the blog: “I definitely get my inspiration for life from Jesus.” Chau made two or three trips to the island by canoe from November 15, making contact with the tribe but returning to his boat. International Christian Concern released a statement calling Chau a missionary. William Stark, ICC’s regional manager, said[12]: “We here at International Christian Concern are extremely concerned by the reports of an American missionary being murdered in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Our thoughts and prayers go out to both John’s family and friends.” The police have done duty of arresting the fishermen who took bribe from John Chau and dropped him on the island[13]. They recorded the statement also[14]. In India bribe giving and taking is also illegal. Of course, the bribe giver has gone forever and he cannot be arrested!

© Vedaprakash

27-11-2018

[1] TheNewsMinute, The misplaced sympathy for John Chau exposes administrative apathy in the Andamans, Zubair Ahmed, Saturday, November 24, 2018 – 15:55 IST.

[2] https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/misplaced-sympathy-john-chau-exposes-administrative-apathy-andamans-92144

[3] NDTV, Twenty-six-year-old John Allen Chau was obsessed with converting fragile islanders to Christianity, All India | (c) 2018 The Washington Post | Joanna Slater, Annie Gowen, The Washington Post | Updated: November 23, 2018 14:57 IST.

[4] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/fear-and-faith-inside-the-last-days-of-an-us-man-john-allen-chau-killed-by-remote-tribe-1952049

[5] MSN.news,The 26-year-old American killed by an Indian tribe said God helped him reach the remote island he called ‘Satan’s last stronghold’, by Alexandra Ma, November 23, 2018.

[6] https://www.msn.com/en-xl/asia/asia-top-stories/the-26-year-old-american-killed-by-an-indian-tribe-said-god-helped-him-reach-the-remote-island-he-called-satans-last-stronghold/ar-BBQ1mcX?li=BBJDXDP – image=BBQ1mcX_1|2

[7] BBC, John Allen Chau: Who was US man killed in remote islands?, 21 November 2018.

[8]  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46293221

[9] Times of Israel, American missionary killed in India ‘grasped the humanity of Jesus’ in Israel, By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES, 22 November 2018, 12:01 pm

[10] https://www.timesofisrael.com/american-missionary-killed-in-india-grasped-the-humanity-of-jesus-in-israel/

[11] South China Morning Post, ‘Why are they so angry’: US man John Allen Chau, killed by remote Sentinel Island tribe, was trying to convert them to Christianity, Novemver 24, 2018.

[12] https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2174420/why-are-they-so-angry-us-man-john-allen-chau-killed-remote – comments

[13] Nzstuff, Seven people arrested for helping missionary John Chau before his death, Nov 24 2018, 17:54.

[14] https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/108841164/Seven-people-arrested-for-helping-missionary-John-Chau-before-his-death

Tags: american, american miissionary, andaman, anti-christ, baptist, bible, boat, body, burial, calcutta, catholic, christ, Consulate, dead, dead body, explorer, fisher men, fishermen, illegal entry, jesus, jesus christ, John Allen Chau, John Chau, killer, missionary, port blair, satan, satanic, sentinel, spy, Zubeer Ahmad