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hristians in Aceh Singkil regency, Aceh, are worried that they will lose their houses of worship because the local public order office has threatened to destroy 13 churches in the region if the Christian community is unable to secure the necessary building licenses by March 23.

Boas Tumangger, chairman of Aceh Singkil Peace Lovers Forum, said that the churches had fulfilled all the requirements to secure a worship permit according to a joint ministerial decree and the Aceh governor'€™s decree.

'€œIt turns out that there are other requirements demanded by the Aceh Singkil regency administration that we have not been able to fulfill as yet,'€ Boas said on Wednesday, adding that some of the churches had been there since 1935.

He said among the requirements that the churches found difficult to fulfill were requirements related to the legality of the land, the building design, recommendations from the district religious affairs office (KUA), recommendations from the district head, recommendations from the Religious Affairs Ministry, recommendations from the Interfaith Harmony Communication Forum and recommendations from the Aceh Land Agency.

Boas said the Christian community had tried to fulfill the requirements but some parties refused to cooperate by arguing that the disputed area was beyond their authority.

'€œThe KUA, for example, said that they could not issue a recommendation for the establishment of a house of worship because their area of authority was related to marriage certificates,'€ Boas said.

He said it would be impossible for the community to fulfill all the requirements within the next week, before the deadline of March 23.

He added that the requirements were put in place following the burning down of a church in Aceh Singkil on Oct. 13 last year. After the fire, the regency administration and the Muslim community decided that churches with no license would be demolished.

Boas said that nine churches were then demolished from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23, leaving just 14 behind. Of those 14, just one has a building license. He added that Aceh Singkil Regent Safriadi had promised to issue licenses for churches that were already built and fulfilled the requirements.

Thousands of Christians in Aceh Singkil fled to Pakpak Bharat and Central Tapanuli regencies in North Sumatra following the Oct. 13 incident.

Besides the burning down of the church, a Muslim assailant was shot dead and many were injured in the incident, including a police officer in Suka Makmur, Gunung Meriah.

Veryanto Sitohang, the lawyer for the Aceh Singkil Christians, said it was deplorable that the Aceh Singkil administration had complicated the issuance of church licenses.

Suwan, head of the Aceh Singkil National Unity, Politics and Community Protection Agency, denied the accusations on Wednesday, saying that all the requirements were in line with a gubernatorial decree.

Suwan also claimed that many false identities had been found in the documents submitted for the establishment of the churches. Among them were the identity cards of non-Aceh Singkil residents.

He said that the verification process would be conducted until April 12.

'€œIf by that date the requirements have not been fulfilled, the Aceh Singkil regency administration will coordinate with the central government to determine the next step,'€ Suwan said.