The Jakarta Post, September 05, 2005
Church closures continue to cause public concern
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Jakarta
The closure of churches in Bandung and surrounding areas over the past two years
has caused concern among people of different faiths who consider the incidents a
threat to religious harmony in the country.
On Saturday afternoon, around 1,500 people of various religions rallied at the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta to pressure the government to prove its
commitment to religious freedom, Antara reported.
The demonstrators, who included former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid
and former House of Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung, also prayed together.
"We are concerned about the forcible closure of Christian houses of worship, which
we consider a blow to brotherhood among people of different faiths here," one rally
participant, Hendra Waskita, said.
After the rally, the crowd marched to the State Palace while unfurling banners that
stated their demand that discrimination be eliminated and for religious harmony.
The latest forcible closures of house of worship occurred on Saturday, with Muslim
hard-liners claiming that one church in Bandung and another in South Jakarta lacked
permits.
The hard-liners have also accused the church congregations of converting Muslims to
Christianity.
The Christian community in Bandung, where 23 houses of worship have been shut
down by the Muslim hard-liners since 2003, have deemed a 1969 joint ministerial
decree the root of the problem.
The decree requires that congregations wishing to build a house of worship obtain a
permit from the head of the local administration and seek permission from local
residents. With Indonesia being predominantly Muslim, minority Christians often have
difficulties in building churches and instead use houses, shop-houses or hotels to
hold services.
"We planned to renovate our church to accommodate the growing congregation, but
the plan never materialized due to resistance from local people, who are mostly
Muslims, even though the land belongs to us," said Rieska Wulandari, 26, a member
of the Java Christian Church. The church was built in 1960.
She said there was no reason to close a church no matter what.
"How can people restrict others of a different faith from praying? It goes against
people's rights," she said.
She called on followers of other religions to understand the difficulties facing
Christians in building churches, which often prompted them to use other buildings as
houses of worship.
Sugeng Sumaryadi, a Protestant, suggested that church congregations intensify
communication with local people and government to prevent further incidents.
"The closures serve as a lesson for us Christians to enhance communication with all
parties so that they understand our need for houses of worship," Sugeng said.
He said he understood that some people resented religious activities in their
residential areas as they had the tendency to disrupt the tranquility of an area.
"If we wanted to turn a house into business premises such as a factory outlet, for
example, we would be required to secure a permit. Before obtaining a permit from the
government, it would be necessary to get permission from residents because
activities or crowds of customers would certainly bother them," he said.
Meanwhile, head of West Java chapter of the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), Hafidz
Usman, said he had not heard of any church closures.
"They were private residences that served as houses of worship. Annoyed residents
reported them to the authorities, which went unheeded. They finally protested to the
local administration and demanded that action be taken," he said.
Hafidz said the joint ministerial decree regulated the issue accordingly. He said
Muslims also faced difficulties in building mosques in predominantly Christian areas,
particularly in eastern Indonesia.
He called on local administrations to quickly respond to people's aspirations in a bid
to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
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