TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
New church inauguration splits GKI Yasmin congregation
The newly inaugurated church, rechristened Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) West Bogor, has divided the Yasmin congregation as several members refuse to use the new building.
Change Size
Members of the Protestant church GKI Yasmin construct a Christmas tree from sticks to celebrate Christmas in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta in 2018. (The Jakarta Post/Wendra Ajistyatama)
I
n a case that has become a case study of Indonesia’s struggle with religious intolerance, the Bogor city administration in West Java finally inaugurated the new Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin building on Easter Sunday. But the new church, rechristened GKI West Bogor, has divided the Yasmin congregation as several members refuse to use the new building.
As a sign of just how symbolically important the church was, the inauguration was held with much fanfare and two ministers in attendance.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD and Home Minister Tito Karnavian spoke at the event, with Bogor Mayor Bima Arya and National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chairwoman Atnike Nova Sigiro also joining the inauguration.
“The inauguration of this church is the embodiment of the state’s commitment to guarantee the constitutional right of its people, especially those of Christian faith,” Mahfud said on Sunday.
The GKI Yasmin congregation, named so for its proximity to the Yasmin Park residential area, initially obtained its building permits in 2006, with then-mayor Diani Budiarto attending the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the church in its original location – some 1.5 kilometers from the church inaugurated on Sunday.
But after protests from locals, Diani succumbed to public pressure and freezed the church’s permit in 2008. While the congregation’s legal team continued its efforts to challenge the city’s decision, with the Supreme Court even ruling in the church’s favor in 2010, the Bogor administration instead revoked the church’s building permit entirely in 2011.
Negotiations stalled until 2015 when Bima, who was elected mayor in 2014, proposed the relocation of the church to a new site about 1.5 km down the road. By August 2021, the Bogor administration finally granted the congregation with a new building permit for the new site with the groundbreaking ceremony following in December.
