The congregation of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin urged recently inaugurated Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto to act on his promise to reopen their church before the country'€™s next president is elected in July.

Bima and his deputy, Usmar Hariman, officially took office on April 7.

GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said Bima had to find a solution to the case, which his predecessor Diani Budiarto had failed to resolve before his term expired in June last year.

'€œThis case was carried over from Diani to Bima, so we demand that Bima obey the ruling of the Supreme Court and stop acting like Diani,'€ Bona said on Sunday.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that the GKI Yasmin congregation in Bogor, West Java, had the right to build a church in the area. Diani, however, refused to issue a permit for the building and the church was sealed in 2010.

Since then, the GKI Yasmin congregation has been holding its Sunday services outside.

On Sunday, members of GKI Yasmin along with those of Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Filadelfia from Bekasi, West Java, held a joint service in front of the State Palace to both celebrate Easter and push the national government to intervene in the case.

The service was led by Daniel Heru Iswanto, a pastor and chairman of the Javanese Christian Church in northern Central Java.

In his sermon, Daniel said the GKI Yasmin case was a test for the country to uphold religious equality for subscribers of all faiths.

'€œIf the government fails to resolve this case, this moment will go down in history as one of the darkest periods of the country and this will be a challenge to the next government,'€ he said.

The service began at 1 p.m. and wrapped up at 3 p.m. Also attending the service were activists from interfaith organizations and Jakarta Street Lawyers.

Late last week, members of GKI Yasmin and HKBP Filadelfia held a Good Friday service in the pouring rain in the same location.

'€œWe conduct services here to show that we do not only support fellow Christians, but also other minority groups who are discriminated against, such as the Ahmadis and Shiites,'€ he said.

Despite a statement from Albert Hasibuan, member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s advisory council, saying that the GKI Yasmin church should be opened no later than October last year, the government has failed to follow up with action.

The GKI Yasmin church is not the only one to have faced intolerance from local groups.

In 2011, the Bekasi municipal administration sealed off HKBP Filadelfia church after local residents objected to its construction.

Though the Bandung State Administrative Court ruled in favor of the church'€™s right to exist, the administration has still not reopened the site.

Earlier this April, members of GKI Yasmin backed by NGOs came to Bima'€™s private residence to deliver a letter ahead of his inauguration as mayor, demanding he allow the church to open.

Bima, a National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, issued a statement after his inauguration saying dialogue was the only way to resolve the standoff.

On April 17, Bima pledged to resolve the longstanding dispute surrounding GKI Yasmin.

'€œI'€™m optimistic we will reach an agreement to solve this problem and achieve closure,'€ Bima said after meeting with Albert from the presidential advisory council in mid-April. (gda)

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