GMS Bantul Church Urges Congregation to Avoid Retaliation After Worship Service Disbanded by Crowd

GMS Bantul Church has urged its congregation not to retaliate following the dispersal of a Sunday worship service by a crowd on 24 May. The church’s spokesperson, Eko, stated that church leaders have called on all members to pray for strength and unity, and to uphold peace and the rule of law to restore calm in Bantul.

Eko also expressed gratitude to the Bantul Regency Government for handling the incident and confirmed the church would leave the matter to the authorities for legal resolution.

Social media posts alleging the forcible dispersal of a worship service at a Sewon church in Bantul by a social organisation (ormas) have gone viral. An Instagram post by @davidherson_official condemned the alleged intolerance, citing constitutional guarantees of religious freedom under Article 29(1) and (2) of the 1945 Constitution, and called for firm action against those involved.

Acting Head of Bantul’s Bureau of National Unity and Politics (Kesbangpol), Yulius Suharta, confirmed the incident occurred on 24 May, stating the agency had attempted to coordinate preventive measures but the situation still unfolded. ‘Kesbangpol is not merely waiting for reports; upon receiving information of potential resistance against GMS activities yesterday, we had already coordinated measures,’ he said. ‘We attempted to anticipate the situation, but the movement at the GMS activity site did occur yesterday,’ he added.