Members of the Filadelfia Congregation of Batak Protestant Churches (HKBP Filadelfia) in Bekasi regency, West Java, have been seeking access to their church and government protection from those they say are intolerant since 2009.

However, the government’s only response to date has been to ask them to accept a plan to relocate the HKBP Filadelfia church, which was sealed off a decade ago after protests and cases of alleged assault against its members, to a multipurpose building.

The beleaguered members of the Tambun church do not have access to their own half-built property, even though the government ruled in favor of the congregants’ worship rights.

According to a press release from the Indonesian Ombudsman, the church is allowed to hold service and worship in a multipurpose building located elsewhere in Kampung Pulo, Sumber Jaya village, South Tambun.

Indonesian Ombudsman commissioners assistant Ahmad Sobirin said his side wanted to address the congregants’ problems, but it had yet to persuade the Bekasi regency administration to reopen the church building.

On Dec. 31, 2009, the administration issued a regental decree that ordered for HKBP Filadelfia’s church building in Jejalen Raya, North Tambun, Bekasi, to be sealed off, following protests from parties claiming to be locals.

However, the decree was overturned by the Bandung and Jakarta state administrative courts, which ruled in favor of HKBP Filadelfia. Despite this, the administration has yet to reopen the site.

Since then, church members have reported many cases of alleged assault. In one instance, group of people allegedly threw urine, sewage waste and frogs at worshippers attempting to reach their church building to observe the Day of Ascension of Jesus Christ in 2012.

“We are looking to settle this problem, because the congregants do not have a place of worship,” Sobirin told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said the regency, fearing conflicts with locals, would not reopen the church.

Sobirin said building a house of worship could take time, so the congregants were offered a relocation plan that would allow them to pray and hold service in a multipurpose building, though it could not formally be called a church.

According to a 2006 joint ministerial decree, a house of worship can only be built if it has secured the approval of 90 worshipers and 60 local residents of different faiths.

Sobirin claimed the decision to devise a relocation to a multipurpose building was made after the Indonesian Ombudsman set up meetings involving HKBP Filadelfia congregants, Bekasi regency administration officers, including then-regent Neneng Hasanah Yasin, and HKBP Bishop Darwin Lumbantobing at the HKBP headquarters in Pearaja, Tarutung, North Sumatra, in March 2018.

However, HKBP Filadelfia’s lawyer Judianto Simanjuntak said the congregation had different interpretations of the meeting.

“HKBP Filadelfia wants the law to be enforced in accordance with the court’s decision [to reopen the church],” Judianto told the Post.

He said that even if the regency administration provided a building, it would only be temporary, as the building was not even theirs to give to begin with.

Furthermore, he said the congregation interpreted the meeting as a call for the regency to follow-up on the court’s decision.

“The ombudsman should have focused on the follow-up of the court’s decision,” Judianto said.

Parsaoran Siahaan, one of the congregants, said the church did not want to use the multipurpose building for worship as HKBP Filadelfia never agreed with the administration’s plan to use it.

He said as the building in Kampung Pulo was located above a waterway, congregants deemed it as unfit for use as a house of worship, to say nothing of the property’s unclear legal status.

“The multipurpose building […] does not affect the decree from the court, which demanded that the regency reopen the HKBP Filadelfia church building,” Parsaoran said.

HKBP Filadelfia congregants still hold biweekly worship services in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta together with the congregation of the similarly embattled GKI Yasmin church in Bogor, West Java.

GKI Yasmin, which was also sealed off, will hold its 195th service on Sunday.

Bekasi Regency National and Political Unity Office head of the political and nationality division Ponijan did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

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