Building of church halted despite permit

Building of church halted despite permit

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two weeks after a group of people blockaded two places of worship
in Jati Mulya, Bekasi, West Java, about 400 people stopped the
construction of the Graha Bintang Timur church in Cikarang,
Bekasi, on Monday.

Members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), the Ansor Youth
Movement and the Indigenous Youth Movement blocked off the church
and hung banners demanding the construction be stopped.

They also demanded that Bekasi Regent Saleh Manaf revoke the
permit he issued for the construction of the church.

The secretary of the Bekasi regency administration, Herry
Koesaeri, said the construction work would be suspended to allow
the parties involved in the conflict to discuss the issue.

"The regent has issued a permit for the construction of the
church. So, they cannot just stop the construction of the
building without discussing it with the related parties. The
administration, the people from the church and the Muslim groups
are trying to find a solution to the problem," he told The
Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said the church had tried for four years to get a building
permit before the regent granted it recently.

It is not clear if the church secured approval from the people
living near the site for its construction, as required by a joint
ministerial decree issued in 1969.

With Muslims making up some 85 percent of the country's
population, non-Muslims have long seen the decree as a major
stumbling block to building places of worship.

The secretary of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) in
Bekasi, Hotman Hutasoit, said the PGI had asked the regency
council and the regent for construction to be allowed to proceed
because the church had already secured a building permit.

"We will continue fighting for the resumption of construction
because the regent has issued a permit. There is no reason to
stop construction," he told The Jakarta Post.

This was the second such incident involving churches in Bekasi
in the last two weeks.

About 500 members of the HKBP and Gekindo churches in the Jati
Mulya housing complex were forced to hold Sunday services on the
street two weeks ago after FPI members prevented them from
entering the churches.

After several days of discussions, local residents insisted
that the 13-year-old places of worship had to be moved because
neither church had a permit from local authorities.

Local authorities said they were looking for new locations for
the churches.

Several churches in Bandung and Jakarta have also been closed
down by hard-line Muslim groups, including FPI and the Anti-
Apostasy Movement Alliance.

PGI leader Andreas A. Yewangoe earlier complained to President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about the closure of 23 churches in
Bandung since September 2004.

Christians see the 1969 ministerial decree as the root of the
problem.

The decree requires congregations wishing to build a house of
worship to obtain a permit from the head of the local
administration and to seek permission from local residents for
the construction.

Recently, the government announced that the decree would be
replaced by a new joint decree from the Ministry of Home Affairs
and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.