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Activist beaten as Christians barred from praying

An activist was beaten and Batak Protestant Christian Union (HKBP) Filadelfia churchgoers were barred from holding a Sunday service in Jejalen Raya village in Bekasi by Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers, residents and religious groups who blocked roads in the area

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, May 7, 2012

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Activist beaten as Christians barred from praying

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n activist was beaten and Batak Protestant Christian Union (HKBP) Filadelfia churchgoers were barred from holding a Sunday service in Jejalen Raya village in Bekasi by Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers, residents and religious groups who blocked roads in the area.

About 1,000 people, including 400 Satpol PP officers and hard-line Muslim groups, forced Christian worshippers to leave the church.

The mob loudly abused worshippers and swept the area looking for any other churchgoers.

Tantowi Anwari, an activist from the Association of Journalists for Diversity (Sejuk), said people claiming to be members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) asked him to remove a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Say No to Majority’s Tyranny”, because they took it as an insult to Muslims.

They stole his ID card and beat him until a police officer brought him into a police station.

“The police later returned my ID card but they didn’t arrest any perpetrators,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Dozens of police officers were guarding the church site and escorted the worshippers away.

Churchgoer Nurmida Bintang said police warned her to leave immediately “for her life”, but did nothing when the mob broke a rearview mirror on her motorcycle.

“It is a public road and the church is the rightful owner of the land. They have no right banning the churchgoers from entering their own property,” HKBP Filadelfia lawyer Saor Siagian said on Sunday, adding that officers should have protected the worshipers, not the mob.

The Bekasi regency sealed the site in 2010 because of the objection of nearby residents over the construction of the church. The Bandung Administrative Court ruled in favor of HKBP Filadelfia, but the administration had yet to re-open the site.

Services had been held at the site, until a mob dispersed worshippers on April 22. For several weeks, they have held services in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, together with the embattled parishioners of GKI Taman Yasmin of Bogor, but decided to return to the site.

Reverend Palti Panjaitan said they would keep worshipping at the site because it was their right to do so.

“Relocation is a fast and easy solution, but it doesn’t solve the real problems. I will move if the President also resigns — it is of the same logic if we have to obey those who disagree with us,” he said.

“If the regency insists on not re-opening the [site], we’ll use the court decree as the building permit [IMB],” he said, adding that the church had secured 259 signatures from residents who approved of the church’s construction, which is more than the 60 signatures required to obtain an IMB.

However, some churchgoers were exhausted by the battle.

Rohani Panjaitan, 43, who lives in the Bekasi Indah 2 complex near the church, said she was fed up.

“It has been years. When the residents objected we conducted our services at homes. We rented a shop and prayed there. They didn’t like it either, so we bought land to build a church and they still bother us,” she said, adding that she would willingly move to another place if the priest wanted to do so.

Rohani did not know what went wrong in the process of their permit.

“We have asked permission from the residents nearby and gathered 150 signatures. We have fulfilled all the requirements and the residents also welcomed our plan,” she said, adding that it has now become a political issue.

North Tambun district head Suharto, who arrived at the scene after the clash, said HKBP Filadelfia followers should have waited until they had obtained the permit to start praying again at the site.

“Many residents don’t agree with the building, so the church members also have to consider that,” he said.

One of the protest leaders, Naimun, 78, said he was angry about the group frequently holding services at the site. “They can pray anywhere they like. But not in our village,” he said, adding that only two Christian families lived near the church.

Naimun also alleged that the church bribed residents to get their approval, but did not provide any evidence to support the claim. “They also said that the signatures were for government financial aid. That’s why many people signed,” Naimun said. “If the government cannot ban them from praying there, let us solve the problem our own way.”

The church will take legal action over the assault and intimidation, lamenting the absence of law enforcement.

Communion of Indonesian Churches (PGI) chair Andreas Yewangoe said he hoped other church members would not be provoked by the incident and said the incident should open the central government’s eyes to the fact that religious conflicts across the country were initiated by uncontrolled radical groups. “We should do something about this. Otherwise, the situation may become very uncivilized.”

Lutfi Rakhmawati and Dicky Christanto contributed to this report

 

Church services disrupted

Jan. 1
A group of people tried to prevent GKI Taman Yasmin churchgoers from conducting the first Sunday service in 2012 near the sealed church. As the members still could not conduct the service near their sealed church, the service was then moved into a congregation member’s home in the Taman Yasmin housing complex.
 
Jan. 15
A lawmaker who has supported members of the GKI Taman Yasmin congregation in their efforts to open their sealed church was chased away by protesters.
 
Jan. 22

At least 70 supporters of two hard-liner groups and officers from the municipality’s public order agency forced the congregation of GKI Taman Yasmin to halt the Sunday service being held at the house of a church follower.
 
Apr. 22

HKBP Filadelfia’s service was forcefully dissolved by religious organizations.

Source: The Jakarta Post

 

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