West Java tells Christians to respect government regulations

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Jayapura

Guaranteeing there would no more pressure from hard-line Muslim groups to close down churches, West Java Governor Danny Setiawan asked Christian congregations to comply with the regulations on establishing houses of worship.

A 1969 joint ministerial decree requires all houses of worship to be built with the consent of local administration heads and area residents.

The West Java administration later issued Gubernatorial Instruction No. 28/1990 on the matter, which allows a neighborhood to build houses of worship if there are at least 40 families practicing a religion in the area.

Minority Christians often have difficulties in building churches in predominantly Muslim areas of the country. In Bandung, many churches or houses being used to worship have been shut down by Muslim hard-liners since 2003. The groups accuse the congregations of lacking permits and of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.

However, Christians and other Muslims sympathetic to the rights of religious minorities believe the 1969 decree is the root of the problem.

Danny said until the administration issued a new regulation, people should follow the existing ones.

"We'll work on a draft regulation, which is aimed to address the difficulties (of Non-Muslim groups) in establishing houses of worship," he said on Thursday after a meeting with the West Java Police and military chiefs, and the head of the provincial ulema council.

He plans a discussion with Christian leaders next week.

Danny claimed there had been no forced closures of churches by Muslim hard-liners in West Java and no violence committed against congregations.

Many Muslim residents had protested the illegal construction of churches, he said, and because their complaints were not heeded, the residents put pressure on the local administration to close down the churches.

"The churches were closed down by the local administration, which was facilitated by the police. Reports on church closures and demolitions (by vigilante groups) are inaccurate and should be considered lies," Danny said.

Administration staff and police had no information about illegal forced closures, he said.

Meanwhile, John Simon Timorason, who chairs the West Java office of the Indonesian Churches Cooperation Forum said that since August last year, 35 churches had been closed down despite obtaining permits from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

But ministry provincial office head Iik Makid said the office only issued recommendations to the governor and regional heads about the operation of churches, not permits.

"A permit can be sought only if the neighborhood allows it. You know how sensitive religious affairs are," he said.

Iik said the problem with establishing a church in West Java, where Christians account for less than 10 percent of the province's population of 34 million, was similar to building mosques in predominantly Christian provinces.

Separately, the Papua Bishops Council urged the majority of Christians not to retaliate for the incidents in West Java.

"When your enemies slap your right cheek, give them the left cheek, as retaliation is God's prerogative," council spokesman Bishop Leo Laba Ladjar said.

"The closure of churches in Bandung, however, is a great shock. It violates the right to worship God."

The council urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to act against those who obstructed the freedom of to practice one's religion, as this violated the Constitution.