T

he Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) and several rights groups have lamented the Bekasi administration’s move to demolish the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) of Setu in Bekasi regency, West Java.

The regional administration reasoned that the church was built in 1999 without a permit and had therefore violated a 1996 bylaw on construction permits (IMB).

On Friday, the head of the PGI’s Papua chapter, Rev. Karel Erari, expressed his dismay at the regent’s decision to demolish the house of worship and blamed the central government for remaining silent, saying that churches were public facilities that both the government and the administration should protect.

He said the church had struggled to obtain a building permit due to objections from the predominantly Muslim neighborhood, but the regency made the process even more complicated.

“The administration should never have bowed to pressure by intolerant groups,” Karel said in a press conference at the PGI’s headquarters in Jakarta.

Deputy Regent Rohim Mintareja said the demolition was ordered due to a combination of the problems surrounding the construction permit and the administration wishing to avoid conflict with locals who opposed the presence of the church.

The PGI, however, said the demolition was illegal as the administration had an obligation to guarantee people’s freedom to worship as stipulated in the 1945 Constitution.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) director Febi Yonesta echoed the minister, saying: “The regency administration must protect houses of worship. It’s all there in the Constitution.”

Febi added that the demolition had no validity as the church management was processing the permit at the time of the destruction.

“We are ready to assist the church if it decides to file a lawsuit,” he said.

The church’s congregation has pledged to avoid the use of violence in the wake of the demolition.

After years of struggling to obtain a building permit for their church, the HKBP Setu congregation had to watch as the administration tore down the as yet unfinished building at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday.

The congregation went to the church on Thursday morning in an attempt to prevent the destruction of their church. They held a prayer service, hoping that the demolition would not happen.

However, a bulldozer arrived at the location at noon. Members of the congregation began to cry and wail, while others tried to prevent the bulldozer from moving closer to the church. Many broke down when the machine began to destroy the walls of the church, which was located on Jl. MT Haryono. They could be heard pleading with the public order officers (Satpol PP) to stop the demolition.

The Human Rights Working Group says it will report the case during a UN Human Rights Committee hearing on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Geneva, Switzerland, which is due to take place next Thursday.

Other rights groups that contributed to the press statement included the Wahid Institute, the Setara Institute, the Indonesian Christian Students Movement (GMKI) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). All demanded that the Bekasi regent be held responsible, and urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to resolve the case, following his comments in December that he would get “directly involved” in such matters.

“The government is no longer merely abandoning religious disputes; it is also facilitating them now,” said Alamsyah of the Wahid Institute. (fzm)