ASSIST News Service (ANS), Saturday, October 22, 2005
Churches of Indonesia send SOS
Churches of Indonesia, facing continued forced closings, are sending an S.O.S. for
prayer to Christian churches around the world.
By: John M. Lindner
Special to ASSIST News Service
PERTH, AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- ANS has received a copy of an e-mail letter from
Pastor Johan Bandi, Secretary of the Indonesian Churches Together in Perth, issuing
"an urgent call for solidarity for the persecuted churches in Indonesia."
It was sent to churches abroad, and especially to "my fellow brothers and sisters in
Australia," who have shown a special concern for the persecuted churches of
Indonesia.
In recent months, Christians in Indonesia ha! ve faced a severe escalation of terrorism,
intimidation and persecution.
"This escalation is part of the process to implement Islamic Sharia Law," Pastor
Bandi said.
He pointed out that some of the radical Islamic groups that are publicly known, such
as the Defense of Islam (FPI) and the Alliance Against Apostasy (AGAP), have
broken into churches in the middle of services, demanded the pastor stop preaching,
ordered him and the congregation out of the church, and forced him to sign a
statement that the building would no longer be used for church services. Many times
they carried out their intimidation and terror with letters of authorization from the
mayor and chief of police in their hands, and accompanied by government officials and
police, who stood by doing nothing.
"This is not just a West Java problem," Bandi said. "This is a national problem facing
every church group throughout the country."
Dr. Jeff Hammond of Jakarta-based Bless Indonesia ! Today, said three churches,
Lutheran, Presbyterian and Pentecostal, were closed five weeks ago by the mayor,
accompanied by members of AGAP. See the October 20 report "Indonesian
Christians Attacked as they Worship in the Street" for details.
Then on Sunday, October 16, three more churches in East Bekasi (West Java, about
45 minutes drive from Jakarta) were closed.
On that same day about 150 people marched on a house church in South Sulawesi
and forced it to close. The Jakarta Post reported that Muslims for at least six months
had been objecting to its functioning without a permit.
Pastor Bandi stated furthermore that the mayors of Bekasi, Bandung and Sukabumi
in West Java have issued a decree closing down three more churches. At least 35
churches in Bandung have been closed in the last 12 months, and the mayor of
Sukabumi has also called for the closing down of all churches without permits in his
town.
It is reported that 24 churches in the city of Malang, East Java, are under threat, while
some have been closed in the last two weeks as well. And18 churches in North
Jakarta are wondering when their turn will come,after police collected data on their
services during the last few weeks.
The Indonesia media has reported that over 150 churches have been destroyed or
closed down in Jakarta and throughout the island of Java in recent years. In the last
two months 60 churches, mainly in West Java, were closed.
Bandi said the basis for most of these closures is the Combined Ministerial Edict
No.1 of 1969,which regulates building permits for religious buildings (read churches),
use of homes for religious meetings (read house churches), the control of propagation
of religious beliefs (read Christian evangelism), and the flow of international funds to
religious institutions (read churches). So almost all churches formed in the last 36
years do not have perm! its to function officially.
Reading "churches" into the above statement is justified since mosques apparently
can be built in almost any neighborhood without a permit, and not one mosque
existing without a permit is known to have been closed. Even though Indonesia's
constitution states freedom for all religions, the decision whether or not a church
building can be built, according to Edict No. 1, is determined by prevailing community
opinion—and most neighborhoods are 90% Muslim.
Even though the federal government continues to make international statements that
they do not agree with these church closures, local and state government officials
continue to provide the decrees to close them.
Government officials admit the Edict No. 1 is applied lopsidedly, but Christians who
have protested the unequal application of the edict have been told they should be
patient and comply with the law until it is fixed. According to the October 18 Jakarta
Post, the Minister of ! Home Affairs, M. Ma'aruf, has set the end of the year as a
deadline for revising the law.
Meanwhile, Pastor Bandi said there were two important things that should be done
immediately.
First of all, Christians "should pray earnestly for our fellow persecuted brothers and
sisters in Indonesia."
Secondly, Christians worldwide should express their concerns in concert to their
government leaders to move them to exert pressure on the Indonesian government "to
sincerely implement their commitment to uphold its constitution which guarantees the
freedom of religion."
To that end, Christians in Indonesia and Australia have urged this matter be made
known to the highest levels of government in free nations.
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John M. Lindner is a missionary writer with 25 years experience and now heads World
Christian Ministries with a goal of publishing a new World Christian magazine
depicting the tribulation and triumph of missionaries of the two-thirds world.
www.WorldChristianMinistries.org.
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