Youth group 'seal' Catholic school

Youth group 'seal' Catholic school

Urip Hudiono and Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group calling itself the Islamic Youth Front set up a blockade
at a private Catholic school on Jl. Raden Saleh in Ciledug,
Tangerang, on Sunday, after becoming enraged that the building
was "inappropriately being used to hold services for another
religion".

Another organization known by the same acronym, FPI or the
Islamic Defenders' Front, denied having formal links with the
youth group, called the Front Pemuda Islam.

The local Catholic community uses the school building for
church services on weekends.

The group's action could disrupt classes this week at the Sang
Timur Catholic school, which is owned by the Sang Timur
Foundation. The foundation operates the school, which includes
classes from elementary to high school level as well as a school
for children with disabilities.

Secretary of the local Saint Bernadette parish, Eko Pranowo,
said that Catholic families from six districts of Ciledug, Karang
Tengah, Larangan, Pinang, Pondok Aren and Serpong, had been using
the building on Saturdays and Sundays for mass over the past 12
years.

He explained that they still had to use the building because
they were unable to build a church at a nearby site.

"We were granted a building permit for the site last year, but
still do not have enough funds to build it," he said.

Eko said the same group of youths had held two other
demonstrations in August, after the Tangerang office of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs sent the parish a letter in May,
telling them to stop using the building for religious services.

"The newly elected subdistrict chief in the area had also
heeded their calls and forbade us to hold mass in the building,"
Eko said. The former subdistrict chief, however, had given them
permission to hold religious services in the building.

"But we have not been given a solution on where we can hold
our religious services, and we were never asked to talk about the
matter."

Eko also criticized the Islamic Youth Front's act of
physically barring all entry to the building. "Is it not the
basic right of citizens in this country to worship freely
according to their beliefs?"

A representative of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) denied
having any formal links with the youth group. Cleric Awid,
secretary of the FPI's Jakarta chapter, said that FPI only gave
moral support to the Islamic Youth Front of Karang Tengah
subdistrict.

"The local youths came to us, asking for support for their
protest demonstration on Sunday. We were not involved in the
closure of the Sang Timur building, even though we did send some
of our members to show our support," Awid said.

He added that the youths told FPI that they were upset because
the Sang Timur school was used as a place for Catholic mass.

"They told us they had contacted the police to settle the
matter, but the police ignored them so they asked for our
support," he said.