Issue: Address discrimination, a church tells SBY

Jan 29, Online

Hundreds of congregation members of the GKI Taman Yasmin church, which is situated in Bogor, Greater Jakarta, staged a protest on Sunday in front of the State Palace.

They demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono address the continued discrimination and intimidation against the church’s congregation.

“We came here so that the highest leader would help settle this problem, for the sake of the supremacy of law and the preservation of diversity in Indonesia,” GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said Sunday as quoted by kompas.com.

He said members of the GKI Yasmin congregation still faced intimidation, with two attempts in the last month by Bogor public order officers and hard-line group members to disperse the congregation during a Sunday service.

“We received circular information on behalf of the Bogor mayor that told us not to conduct services in our church or its surroundings. This is a form of intimidation,” Bona said.

Your comments:

Well, what is clear is that with the Indonesian President and the Bogor mayor ignoring the needs of the GKI church, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika is either dead in Indonesia or the political leaders want it so.

With this so patently clear, then there is also no need for non-Islamic provinces like Bali, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Papua or Maluku to remain part of the Indonesian republic any longer.
Peter Hansen

This is not a form of intimidation but something that you, as human beings, have to obey.

Muslims also face the same problem in NTT and Papua and at the international level; we face intimidation in Europe, North America and “down under”.
Garem

Here’s what is making the problem go from bad to worse. First, there was Mayor Diani, who dared for the first time in the history of this republic of ours to act with hostility against a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court.

Now, news reports in the media read, “GKI Yasmin dispute discussed by the House”, which can only mean that a judicial determination, a ruling, or judgment that has been pronounced by the highest court of law in the land can, in fact, be arbitrarily obliterated and brought back to the drawing board via an extrajudicial channel.

Unbelievable! Anybody on the governing board of the Yasmin Church must have been aware that being such a small element within a minority group that is constantly being put in the spotlight with much suspicion and scrutiny, will immediately, severely, possibly even mercilessly dealt with if any of the church’s members are found guilty of embezzlement or any other breach of the law, however small.

The President has repeatedly called for his staff to act and end this episode of sheer folly.

But so far, the President’s orders have proved to be a game of empty words; words that fell on deaf ears or, at best, went in one ear and out the other, prolonging the sense of shame.
Muliana Owoe

The problem here is that somebody has blown the issue up to a national level. Why can’t the mayor just follow the legal order passed down by the Supreme Court and be done with it?
Gregory Fence

I don’t think I’ll hold my breath waiting for the Government of Indonesia to uphold its own Constitution and the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Nor will I hold my breath waiting to read reports and see pictures of hate-filled Christians attacking mosques.
Liam Hamilton