Church closures continue to cause public concern
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.