Churches dismantled, govt fails to act

The successful acquisition of local-government permission is not, however, a guarantee that a church will be allowed to exist in Indonesia.

Jakarta:  Two more Indonesian churches were dismantled last week by local authorities in Sulawesi and West Java provinces citing a permit impasse.

The South Sulawesi Christian Church, a 75-square-meter building, was originally put up as a Sunday school on Jalan Andi Maurada in 1985.

District chief Abdul Rahman Assagaf maintained that the government would not have sealed the building if the church had managed to find 60 signatures from the village.

A permit for a house of worship requires 60 signatures from people living in the village where the building is located.

Church leader Arruan Lenden said that the locals gave a verbal permit, but refused to sign fearing the hard-line Islamists.

In April this year, a banner had appeared outside a South Tangerang mosque saying that any Muslims found to have signed a permit for the Protestant Church in Western Indonesia would face profoundly serious consequences.

The church located in Mekargalih village in Sumedang district of West Java was built in 1987. Earlier in the year, the priest of the church, Bernhard Maukar was arrested and served three months for conducting a service in an unlicensed building. On November 24, a church service was stopped when an intolerant group stormed the church.

The pastor’s wife, Corry Maukar, confirmed that the church had ceased activity since the end of November. The congregation of more than 600 adults and 400 children had moved to a shop nearby.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) estimated earlier in 2013 that 85% of houses of worship — mosques, churches, Balinese pura, et cetera — did not possess a permit. The successful acquisition of local-government permission is not, however, a guarantee that a church will be allowed to exist in Indonesia.

HKBP Taman Sari church in Setu, Bekasi, was demolished in March by the district administration. GKI Yasmin, a protestant church in Bogor, received a permit, but it was later rescinded by the city’s mayor on the grounds that the agreement with local residents had been fabricated.

The St. Bernadet Catholic church in Ciledug, South Tangerang, after a long wait of 23 years had received a permit this year. But a protest at the construction site by several hundred Sunni Muslims meant that never a stone was laid.

Barrier to church construction, closing down or demolitions of existing religious buildings are only indicators for the increasing religious intolerance in Indonesia.

Data from the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace show 264 cases of violent attacks on religious minorities in 2012, a significant increase on the 216 cases in 2010.

Source: ucanews.com