Special to Morning Star News
JAKARTA, Indonesia,
October 16 (Morning Star News) – A church in Bogor, West Java is
snubbing a ministerial decree that, because of Islamic opposition, it
must relocate.
The
Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) in the Yasmin Park area of Bogor, 60
kilometers (38 miles) south of Jakarta, is demanding that the national
and local governments comply with a Supreme Court ruling calling for the
revocation of its permit to be reinstated.
Thomas
Wadura, head of the GKI Yasmin elder board, stated that the church
firmly rejected the ministerial decree. Both the local and central
government must carry out the ruling by the Supreme Court and the
mandatory recommendation of the federal Ombudsman to allow the GKI
Yasmin Church to worship in its own building, Wadura said.
In
addition, he said, residents of the area where the church would be
relocated, five kilometers (three miles) away on Dr. Semeru Street,
object to the move because there is already a church in their area.
“The community rejects us,” Wadura said. “That just strengthens our resolve to reject relocation.”
He added that the area of the proposed relocation is densely populated, with streets jammed with motorcycles.
The
church was responding to a meeting of federal and local officials and
Islamist groups on Sept. 7 to discuss the GKI Yasmin case. Diani
Budiarto, the defiant mayor of Bogor, met with Minister of Interior
Gamawan Fauzi and Islamic groups such as the Indonesian [Muslim] Clerics
Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) and the Muslim Communication Forum of
Indonesia (Forum Komunikasi Muslim Indonesia), a radical group that has
prevented the congregation from worshipping in its building. The group
has also portrayed the church as problematic rather than those who have
harassed it in violation of Indonesia’s supposed religious freedoms.
Also
present at the meeting were representatives of the Interfaith Harmony
Forum (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama) and the GKI Yasmin church.
At
the end of the meeting, Interior Minister Fauzi decreed relocation.
Upon hearing the decree, GKI Yasmin church spokesperson Bona
Sigalingging flatly rejected it.
Church
leaders said the government had apparently planned to issue the decree
in advance, as it had already allocated 10 billion rupiahs (slightly
more than US$1 million) for a new church building.
“The
problem is not that the location is not expensive enough or good enough
– relocation [itself] is what we reject,” Sigalingging told Tempo, an Indonesian weekly magazine.
He said relocation of the church would harm rule of law in Indonesia.
“This
would create divisions and categories according to ethnicity, religion
and race, and betray [national motto] ‘Unity in Diversity,’” he
reportedly said.
The
congregation agreed with a solution already presented by the National
Defense Council (Dewan Ketahanan Nasional) to erect a building of
another faith (i.e., a mosque) adjacent to the Yasmin church,
Sigalingging said. He told Tempo that he did not understand why the relocation decree was suddenly put forth.
“Now
the GKI Yasmin is relocated, the HKBP Filadelfia is relocated, the
Ahmadiyah are relocated, the Shiites are relocated,” he was quoted as
saying. “What kind of a country is this?”
A spokesperson for the interior ministry, Reydonnyzar Moenek, admitted to Tempo that the decree contradicted the decision of the Supreme Court, which found that the building permit was legal.
Complaints
In
a statement from the church to the Ombudsman of the Republic of
Indonesia dated Sept. 10, the leaders urged the government to accept the
Supreme Court ruling and correct the defiance of the Bogor mayor.
The
church leaders gave Dec. 25 as the deadline for the return to their
building, which is sealed, so that they may worship legally in it. This
would set a good precedent to strengthen law and the constitution of the
Republic of Indonesia, they added.
They
pointed out to the Ombudsman that the mayor of Bogor and the interior
minister have rejected the Supreme Court decision of Dec. 9, 2010, the
recommendation of the Ombudsman on July 8, 2011, and the mandatory order
of the Ombudsman on July 8, 2012; instead, the minister has joined the
mayor in pressuring the church.
The
church also noted that Bogor police have not acted on three reports to
them by the congregation, who complained that: 1) Members of the Muslim
Communication Forum of Indonesia destroyed part of the church fence in
early 2010; 2) the Civil Service Police criminally interfered with
worship services by closing and locking the gate; and 3) the mayor of
Bogor threatened “war” against the church in an article in the Bogor
Daily Radar Newspaper (Harian Radar Bogor).
None of these complaints has been investigated, the church stated to the Ombudsman.
They
also noted that the interior minister has repeatedly said that he was
committed to a resolution within the law. If he were responsible, GKI
Yasmin church leaders said, he should enforce the decision of the
Supreme Court and the recommendation of the Ombudsman.
Relocation
to any place at any time is not part of the legal process to which
Interior Minister Fauzi has repeatedly pledged to keep, the GKI Yasmin
church leaders stated.
© 2012 Morning Star News. Articles may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News.christianresponse.org
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