Residents of Sepatan subdistrict in Tangerang, Banten, have protested Christmas services at two churches in the area, forcing congregations to leave their church buildings.

“That night was very sad. The children were frightened and their mothers were crying because they told us to leave our church,” Paiyan Sinaga, a member of the Congregation of Batak Protestant Churches (HKBP) Rogate in Sepatan, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Protesters went to the Rogate church building, located in a shophouse in the Sepatan Golden City housing compound, as a Christmas service was taking place on Monday evening. “I give 15 minutes to disperse, otherwise the troops will take action. Allahu Akbar [God is great]!” one of the protesters shouted, followed by takbir chanting by other participants, as shown in a video made available to the Post.

The police guarded the building, but the protesters insisted on stopping the service.

Sinaga learned that the protesters got their way by arguing that the church buildings did not have building permits.

“The police did not disperse the protesters. We were the ones who were supposed to leave. The police and local officials only guarded us until we were safely out of the church, but the service had been forcibly stopped,” he said.

He said the church was built years ago, but the local administration had not issued building permits despite the congregations’ proposal. They had brought the matter to the Interfaith Communication Forum but did not see results.

With the church closed, members of it used their priest’s house to run a service on Christmas.

“We just want to use our church,” he said.

The Pentecostal Church in the same area was also forced to close, allegedly by the same crowd a day earlier.

Unlike the Rogate church, the Pentecostal Church had acquired a building permit nine years ago.

Tangerang Police chief Sr. Comr. Harry Kurniawan refused to comment. Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono has yet to respond to the Post’s queries.

National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen Dedi Prasetyo also refused to comment on the matter.

Tangerang Regent Ahmed Zaki Iskandar said that Sepatan residents, members of local Islamic groups and church members were in the middle of a mediation process.

“Please wait for the final agreement,” he said.

When asked about the issue surrounding the Rogate church building permit, he said the church must first secure environmental permits.

The latest case adds to a long list of notorious bans on church operations elsewhere in the country. A lack of building permits and an inadequate number of necessary signatures from locals as a requirement to obtain permits are often cited as reasons to justify church bans.

In 2008, the Bogor city administration issued a decree freezing GKI Yasmin church’s building permit in response to resistance from residents. Higher authorities had nullified the decision, but the ban remains in place.

HKBP Filadelfia in Bekasi faced a similar problem when the local administration sealed off the location upon where their church was to be built in 2010. Both the Bandung and Jakarta state administrative courts, as well as the Supreme Court, ruled in favor of HKBP Filadelfia in 2011. However, the church members were still unable to congregate at the church.

Setara Institute vice chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos said Tangerang was not much different from other Jakarta suburbs, such as Bekasi, Depok and Bogor, where it was difficult for minority groups to establish houses of worship.

“Regional administrations often ignore the minority groups. The central administration also does not have much authority even though religion is something that shouldn’t be decentralized,” he said. (ggq)

Popular

Garuda Indonesia grounds 15 planes over maintenance, financial issues

GDP growth drops below 5% in Prabowo’s first quarter

Indonesia annual Q1 GDP growth slowest in more than three years