T

he congregation of Damai Kristus Catholic church in Tambora, West Jakarta, held their Sunday service protected by the police to prevent another lock out by members of Muslim community groups.

“Today, there were about 800 people coming for our Sunday service and everything was back to normal,” said Harsubeno, a member of the church committee.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that around 50 officers had been deployed to stave off possible conflict with the Joint Forum of Mosque, Mushollah and Koran Reciting Groups (FKM3T) members who had locked the church while dozens of churchgoers were attending service on Saturday evening.

“Our chief talked with Governor Joko Widodo on measures to be taken to solve the matter on Monday,” he said.

The FKM3T claims that the building used for the church only has a permit for a multipurpose function hall issued in 1998.

“We have applied for the permit [to utilize the building as a place of worship] for years, but we’ve heard nothing until now,” Father Matius Widyo told The Jakarta Post.

“To worship is the right of all citizens, we do not understand why they [referring to the forum members] forbid us holding services and I think there is no law that can justify that kind of action,” Romo Widyo added.

The congregation was formed in 1963 and operates a school under the Bunda Hati Kudus Foundation. Its application for a permit to build a church inside the school compound has been pending with officials since 1987.

However, according to Harsubeno, the former foundation chairman Bulderwil wrote to the administration asking for a tax cut for the foundation. The governor at that time, Sutiyoso, had helped in the tax cut process and replied to the letter.

“The letter said that we could use the hall for various activities, but not for religious services. There was an additional instruction [handwritten] in that letter saying that ‘the building could not be used for religious services’. Under the handwritten instruction there was a sentence [typed] saying that ‘for utilizing the hall as a place of worship, the permit can proceed further,” Harsubeno explained.

Rikwanto said that West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Sutana had talked with the two parties on Saturday night and the FKM3T had agreed to reopen the locks. (hrl)