Lawmakers to discuss GKI Yasmin church problem with govt

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives (DPR) say they will hold a meeting with the government on Wednesday to discuss the dispute over Bogor’s GKI Taman Yasmin Church.

Legislators from the House’s Commission II, III and VIII are expected to participate, while the government is expected to be represented by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs, the Religious Affairs Minister, the Home Minister, the National Police Chief, the Ombudsman, the West Java Governor and the Bogor Mayor.

“We hope that they could all be present [in the meeting],” House deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said Wednesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

The management of the GKI Yasmin Church, who had also been invited to the meeting, said that it hoped that the meeting would push the government to restore the rights of the church and its congregation, which had also been supported by the Supreme Court.

“We hope that the President would order his ministers to carry out the law and protect the congregation. He should not wait for blood to be shed before he shows concern,” GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said.

The Bogor administration has prohibited church members from conducting religious activities in the church for more than two years on the grounds of faulty building permits, despite a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that guarantees the church’s right to use its the building. (awd)