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.
Renovation of old church in Riau Islands meets resistance
In yet another example of religious intolerance in Indonesia, a local group named the United Muslim Forum (FUIB) has urged the Karimun regency administration in Riau Islands to revoke a building license (IMB) for the renovation and expansion of the Santo Joseph Church
Change Size
I
span>In yet another example of religious intolerance in Indonesia, a local group named the United Muslim Forum (FUIB) has urged the Karimun regency administration in Riau Islands to revoke a building license (IMB) for the renovation and expansion of the Santo Joseph Church.
The group staged a rally on Jan. 17 in front of the regent's official residence, which is located next to the 92-year-old church.
FUIB chairman Abdul Latif claimed the residents feared that the church would turn into an icon as it was located in the center of Karimun’s capital of Tanjung Balai.
"This is wrong. This is a Muslim-majority region. We shouldn’t have a big church built right in the heart of the city. We can’t even build a mosque there," Abdul said.
He also claimed the church could cause “traffic congestion and social disturbances”.
"We would welcome the idea of a church built next to the Karimun Grand Mosque […] but not [in the city center]. We want this space to be a green area," he added.
The group set a deadline of Jan. 25 for the local administration to meet its demands.
Another group, the Karimun Regency Caring Alliance (APKK), is also seeking to revoke the church’s building permit by filing a lawsuit against the Karimun administration at the State Administrative Court.
The resistance against Santo Joseph Church is the second case of religious intolerance to come out of Riau Islands province this month.
Last week, the Tanjungpinang city administration revoked the building license for the renovation of Bethel Indonesia Church (GBI) My Home, responding to fears that the city would be known for the five-story church.
Karimun Deputy Regent Anwar Hasyim said the Santo Joseph Church’s building permit was in line with prevailing regulations. He also noted that his administration would wait for a ruling on the APKK’s lawsuit before making a decision on the matter.
Anwar also called on all residents to deal with their differences amicably.
Concurring with Anwar, the Religious Affairs Ministry’s Karimun regency office head, Jamzuri, issued a letter on Thursday, calling on the public to “refrain themselves because we have the legal process going on”.
Santo Josep Church priests Romo Kristiono Widodo and Romo Chrisanctus Paschalis Saturnus met with Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi at the Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Riau Islands, on Tuesday to convey their concerns.
Fachrul promised that the ministry would support the church’s renovation. Romo Kristiono Widodo said the church would start its renovation on Jan. 25, despite the opposition and lawsuit.
The church obtained a permit on Oct. 2, 2019, and initially planned to kick off renovations in the same month. However, following the FUIB’s protests, it decided to delay the project for three months to facilitate discussions with residents.
“We have sent letters to the local administration, the provincial and regency police heads, notifying them that we will carry on with the renovation because the church’s building and priests’ housing complex are in poor condition,” Kristiono told The Jakarta Post.
The church was founded in 1928 and constructed its permanent building in 1935.
“This house of worship has been here since before Indonesia gained its independence. Back then, this area had lots of swamps and was not as crowded as today,” Kristiono said.
The church can barely accommodate its growing congregation of some 2,000 people, some of which have to sit outside during services.
The church began pursuing a building permit in 2012 by collecting 107 signatures of non-Catholic residents in Tanjung Balai who supported the renovation. This was in line with a 2006 joint ministerial decree on places of worship, which requires a congregation to get 90 signatures from its members and another 60 from other residents before building a house of worship.
The Tanjung Balai district office issued a recommendation letter on the renovation on July 2, 2012.
Meanwhile, in Tanjungpinang, GBI My Home Church priest Baskoni Ginting is still struggling to reclaim a building permit.
He noted there had been growing intolerance within the community, something he had never seen before.
“Building churches used to be unproblematic. But in recent years, our tolerance had been disrupted.”
