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Govt urged to revise ‘discriminatory’ decree on houses of worship
Since the signing of the 2006 joint ministerial decree on places of worship, religious minorities have struggled to obtain permits to construct them.
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A mass is held at Santo Joseph Catholic Church in Tanjung Balai, Karimun, Riau Islands. (JP/courtesy of St. Joseph Tanjung Balai Karimun parish documentation team)
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mid a series of attacks on churches in Indonesia, observers have demanded the government revise a decree that requires local residents to approve the construction of houses of worship.
Since the signing of the 2006 joint ministerial decree on places of worship, religious minorities have struggled to obtain permits to construct them.
Although Indonesia’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion for every citizen, the decree requires a congregation to obtain 90 signatures from its members and another 60 from other residents before building a house of worship.
It also requires that the congregation obtain an endorsement letter from the local administration and a recommendation letter from the local regional affairs office and the regional interfaith communication forum (FKUB).
These obligations have proven difficult for adherents to religions other than Islam, the country’s majority religion. Christians, the second largest religious group in the country, make up about 10 percent of the population. Religious minorities often face rejection because the small congregations struggle to satisfy the regulation’s signature requirements.
Even if a congregation does meet all the requirements, rejection by other residents can still get in the way. A church in Bantul, Yogyakarta, which had earlier acquired all the necessary permits, was recently forced to move to another village after locals resisted its construction.
The renovation of the 92-year-old Santo Joseph Catholic Church in Karimun, Riau Islands, has come to a halt after local groups protested and legally challenged its building permit issued by the local administration at the Tanjungpinang State Administrative Court (PTUN).
