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iolence broke out on Sunday when Bogor Public Order Officers clashed with congregation members of the Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) after the latter refused attempts to remove them from their place of worship.

Bogor Public Order Agency head Bambang Budianto was injured in the incident and had to be rushed to a nearby hospital.

Following the incident, Bambang filed a report with the Bogor Police against GKI member Jayadi Damanik over alleged misconduct. “I was hit in the face during the scuffle,” Bambang said.

The fight broke out when GKI members refused to board buses that would ferry them to a new place of worship. Despite the Supreme Court decision that upheld the legality of GKI Yasmin, the Bogor administration has refused to reopen the church.

GKI congregation members refused to accept blame, saying that public order officers were the aggressors.

“We were singing and praying when Bambang Budianto, the chief of [Public Order Agency] told his men to attack us. I was injured and decided to report this to the police,” Jayadi told a press conference at the Wahid Institute in Jakarta on Sunday.

Jayadi said congregation members were resolute in maintaining their place of worship amid pressure from public order officers, who had allegedly bullied them while telling them to leave.

He also said that the Bogor Public Order Agency had reneged on its promise to secure the GKI congregation.

“I spoke with Pak Priyatna, the agency’s head of law enforcement the night before and he assured me that agency officers would secure the pedestrian walkway where we conduct our Sunday service. He gave us a guarantee that the agency would not evict us, but that did not happen,” Jayadi said.

GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging once again called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to immediately take action against the Bogor administration.

“The President must say something about this. We call on the President to push Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto to honor the Supreme Court ruling,” Bona said.

Bona said that constant bullying from the city administration and vigilante groups had contributed to the dwindling number of worshippers joining the Sunday service.

“Of 350 registered members, we now only have 130 coming each week. Those who don’t attend the service said they felt intimidated. Most are of Chinese descent. Maybe they suffer from a minority complex, both as Christian and Chinese,” Bona said.

Bona said that the church’s legal team is now preparing legal measures it would take following the latest clash.

Members of a group calling themselves the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) attacked GKI Yasmin members who were holding service on the sidewalk in front of the sealed church last week.

Chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), members of the group attempted to disrupt the service and break up the gathering, which ended in an altercation involving members of the group, the GKI Yasmin congregation and public order officers guarding the service.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker Eva K. Sundari said that in an effort to pressure the Bogor mayor, the party had withdrawn its political support for Diani.

“I’ve also learned that other political parties have begun discussing whether they should withdraw their support,” Eva told reporters after the press conference. (swd)