Ciledug school remains sealed off<\/p>\n
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
At least 2,417 students of private Sang Timur Catholic school in
\nCiledug, Tangerang, were still unable to attend classes on
\nWednesday, as a zealot group had yet to tear down a wall it
\nerected on Sunday to block the school's main entrance in protest
\nof religious services being held there.<\/p>\n
A two-meter-tall brick wall blocks the five-meter wide gate of
\nthe school. A plaque with the inscription \"This passageway has
\nbeen sealed by the Karang Tengah Islamic Communication Forum\"
\nhangs on it.<\/p>\n
Banners rejecting \"the school's conversion attempts\" could be
\nseen throughout the housing complex where the school is located.<\/p>\n
Hillon Goa, chairman of the Sang Timur school's parents forum,
\ntold The Jakarta Post that the school had planned to resume
\nclasses on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Goa explained that the school had reached an agreement on
\nMonday night with local officials -- including the district chief
\n-- that the wall could be torn down.<\/p>\n
\"But then the group came again, protesting the agreement, so
\nthe authorities then backed down,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The school, located inside the finance ministry housing
\ncomplex on Jl. Raden Saleh, Ciledug, is owned by the Sang Timur
\nFoundation and has classes from kindergarten to junior high
\nschool level, as well as a school for children with disabilities.<\/p>\n
Some 8,000 Catholics of the local Saint Bernadette parish have
\nbeen using a hall at the rear side of the school for church
\nservices on weekends for the last 12 years, since they have not
\nbeen able to build a church at a nearby site.<\/p>\n
In a related development, the Indonesian Catholic Community
\nForum has sent an official letter to the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights (Komnas HAM), requesting that their basic,
\nconstitutional right to religious freedom be upheld.<\/p>\n
It also requested that local officials provide a solution to
\nwhere the parishioners can hold religious services since they can
\nno longer hold them at the school.<\/p>\n
\"Our main concern is that our children will be traumatized and
\nno longer believe in tolerance, compassion and in the supremacy
\nof the law, which they have always been taught,\" said Goa.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ciledug-school-remains-sealed-off-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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