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Protests against Karimun church 'not about intolerance'
The Religious Affairs Ministry has insisted that protests against the renovation of Santo Joseph Catholic Church in Karimun, Riau Islands, have nothing to do with intolerance
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span>The Religious Affairs Ministry has insisted that protests against the renovation of Santo Joseph Catholic Church in Karimun, Riau Islands, have nothing to do with intolerance.
“I went to Karimun; this not an issue of intolerance. The problem is merely related to the church’s building permit [IMB],” Religious Affairs Ministry special staff member Ubaidillah Amin Moech said on Tuesday.
He added that the church’s renovation committee had agreed to wait for the Tanjungpinang State Administrative Court (PTUN) in Batam to issue a ruling on the renovation project.
The Karimun Regency Caring Alliance (APKK) is challenging the decision through the Karimun One-Stop Integrated Service, which had granted the church a renovation permit from the PTUN. APPK members have demand that the court render the decision void.
Ubaidillah denied that several people had been reported to the police because of the protests.
“The church’s renovation committee was not reported to the police. The police asked them to clarify some of the information that has been spreading on social media.”
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD claimed on Monday that the case had been settled, as all related parties had agreed to refrain from doing anything that would raise tensions.
On the same day, Karimun Regent Aunur Rofiq gathered representatives from local Muslim communities, including the APKK, to discuss a five-point recommendation formulated in a meeting between the Karimun administration and the Pangkal Pinang diocese, which was facilitated by the Religious Affairs Ministry in Jakarta last week.
The recommendation urged all sides to refrain from stirring up conflict and disrupt the ongoing trial. Both sides are required to engage in dialogues and refrain from holding rallies, while the church is required to suspend its construction activities pending the court ruling.
Aunur said that during the meeting in Jakarta, he also conveyed a proposal made by the local Muslim groups to relocate the church and designate it a cultural heritage site.
"The bishop [of the Pangkal Pinang diocese] will consider it," Aunur added.
APKK lawyer Bambang Hardijusno said on Wednesday that he “has told APKK members and other Muslim groups not to stage any demonstrations”.
The trial, meanwhile, was adjourned on Wednesday after the court received a written reply from the petitioner.
Representing the Karimun One-Stop Integrated Service, Karimun administration legal head Rusmawar Dewi said the permit’s issuance "was done accordingly and all requirements were met".
The church, which was established in 1928, obtained a building license for the renovation in October last year.
The renovation committee started working on the permit to renovate the church in May 2012, when it wrote a letter to ask for support from the local community. Committee members collected 107 signatures of non-Catholic residents in Tanjungbalai who supported the renovation.
The signatures are required by a 2006 joint ministerial decree on building places of worship, requiring a congregation to get 90 signatures from its members and another 60 from other residents prior to construction.
The Tanjungbalai district office issued a recommendation letter on the renovation on July 2, 2012.
But renovation work has been halted since Feb. 6 after members of the APKK and local United Muslim Forum (FUIB) staged a protest. They also objected to the church’s location in Karimun’s capital of Tanjungbalai.
