GKI Yasmin saga confuses outsiders: NGOs

Several foreign governments consider the ongoing saga of GKI Yasmin church as something that is hard to comprehend, a human rights watchdog has said.

"Many ambassadors of foreign countries ask me how the problem can happen in the first place. For them, it is hard to understand how a local government can rebel against a decision from higher authorities," Rafendi Djamin of the Human Rights Working Group said at a discussion in Jakarta on Friday.

Members of the beleaguered church were denied their rights to worship in their own place after Bogor Mayor Diani Budianto defied a Supreme Court order to reopen the church after he sealed it in 2010.

" GKI Yasmin case is one case that really damages Indonesia's reputation in the international world," Rafendi said. (riz/iwa)