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.