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'We are the Muslim majority': Neighborhood in Bantul rejects Pentecostal church
“We are the Muslim majority, we are obliged to keep the faith of our children and grandchildren, whose faith can be tainted by the existence of the church,” said a resident.
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Pentecostal church leader Tigor Yunus Sitorus in his house that also functions as church in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)
R
esidents of Sedayu district in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, have protested the operation of Indonesia Pentecostal Church (GPdI) Immanuel Sedayu in their neighborhood, even though it has obtained a permit from the local administration.
The dispute began when church leader Tigor Yunus Sitorus began the construction of his house, which also functioned as a church, in 2003. He had been living in the building with his family while holding religious services.
Upon hearing that Tigor held church activities, residents protested and vandalized his house. He was forced to sign a statement saying that the building would only function as a residence and not a church and that the building’s construction would continue after another building permit is issued.
Tigor requested a house of worship building permit in 2017 after the Bantul administration issued Regental Decree No. 98/2016 on guidelines for building houses of worship. The regency administration finally issued a permit for the church on Jan. 15.
“We started to use the building as a church in April 2019,” Tigor said, adding that he had 50 members in his congregation who meet weekly in a service on Sunday and a musical rehearsal on Saturday.
Soon after, protests against the church erupted again from within the neighborhood, which is predominantly Muslim. A mediation meeting in the Sedayu district office on Tuesday, which was attended by district head Fauzan Mu’arifin, Tigor and residents, did not end in an agreement, so the case will be forwarded to the regency administration.
Samsuri, head of the community unit (RW) where Tigor lives, said the neighborhood was annoyed by the church’s religious activities.
