Dialog Kruyt Dengan Ngasap

Pdt. H.C. Kruyt merupakan missionaris yang pertama kali menginjili orang Karo. Ia tinggal di Buluh Awar pertengahan tahun 1890. Istilah kristen dalam bahasa Karo 'tempo doloe' adalah serani yang dikutip Carel Westenberg (kontelir khusus orang Batak) dari bahasa Melayu yakni nasrani. Lebih dua tahun Kruyt melayani di dataran tinggi Karo, tapi tidak seorang pun menjadi kristen. Begitu sulit mengajak orang Karo memeluk agama baru, karena pemena merupakan agama yang sudah lama menjadi tradisi. Masri Singarimbun (1975) pernah menulis bahwa missionaris Islam dari Aceh juga pernah melakukan hal yang sama kepada orang Karo dan hasilnya juga tak beda. Tahun 1965, jumlah orang Karo yang Kristen baru 23.000 jiwa, tapi setelah peristiwa G30S/PKI pemerintah melarang partai komunis, terjadilah booming pembaptisan massal. Tahun 1965-2005, jumlah orang Karo menjadi Kristen melonjak melampaui ribuan persen. Tapi relatif sedikit yang aktif. Hari Minggu yang ke gereja kurang 50%, PJJ kurang 30%. Apakah hal ini disebabkan booming babtisan massal, karena sebenarnya kebanyakan belum siap menjadi seorang Kristen yang sungguh-sungguh, tetapi karena keadaan mereka menjadi kristen. Jadilah mereka perbegu babtis. Untuk melihat situasi awal, mari kita baca dialog Kruyt dengan Ngasap seorang Karo yang awam tentang kekristen-an di masa mula-mula penginjilan.


"Ngasap, do you know what a serani is?"

"A serani is someone who is nice"

"Nice? But How? Nicely dressed? Nice looking? Nice what?"

"Nice everything, Tuan"

"Where do serani live?"

"At Labuan, Ketumbah, Medan"

"Where else?"

"Other places I don't know, but there many overseas"

"Have you ever seen one?""Yes, At Ketumbah. The bodyguard of one of the Europeans there is serani"

"What does he look like?""I don't know exactly. I mean he has the same appearance as a Batak (Tapanuli), but his language is different""What language does he speak?"

"Malay"

"Are there also serani who speak Dutch?"

"I don't know. Oh yes. I have heard that serani can have only one wife"

"So then, they have different rules from Batak - who can have more than one wife."

"Yes, The Bataks are somewhat lower than the serani, but they come from the same origin. The Malay have another origin."

"Can the Malays become serani?""Oh never"

"Can the Dutch become serani?"

(With emphatic gesture) "Impossible. How can that be when the Dutch are higher than the serani? A serani, oh he careful not to offend the Company [i.e., the Dutch]."
"In the beggining, you said that serani were nice. But are they nice within also? Do they love others?"

"Oh no, Their speech is not true. You can't trust them, and they are also haughty. Bodyguards, that's all they want to be and nothing else. They want money, want to cheat and swindle other people. When the Company says to the serani, 'Kill that coolie!' he kills and he kicks. And he doesn't stop to ask whether or not he should. In this respect we Bataks stand higher than the serani."

(Catatan Kruyt, 1891. Dikutip dari buku Rita Smith Kipp, The Early Years of a Dutch Colonial Mission, The Karo Field. The University of Machigan Press)