Intolerant Mayor?

(published in The Jakarta Post on 15 May 2009. Click here)


Obviously, building discotheque is easier than building a church in this country. However, thank God for His omnipresence, because if He only would like to dwell in churches, some of the Christians in this country would never meet His presence and could not listen to His words. So, do we need a church?

A church today is a luxurious desire - like "a dream" that you have to scrap immediately when you wake-up, because realizing it would be little more than desperate longing, as these dreams hardly ever come true. You could have a great patience and wait till permission to build a church issued, but, be ready to be disappointed.

In this country, you can't be alone in wanting a church, because building a church requires the support of at least 90 worshipers. So, pity you if you live in some area where you are the only Christian. Where can you go to fulfill your spiritual needs? You cannot have a church for yourself.

Then, even if you can count 90 people living in your neighborhood, you still have to get approval from at least 60 local residents in there, otherwise, just forget having a congregation to worship God and fellowship among friends. You must find another church, no matter how far it might be. Since joint decree issued by Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni and his colleague the Home Affairs Minister, building church is a sensitive matter in this so-called tolerant country.

Say that you and your fellows do finally manage to get a building permit; you still must keep vigilant because the permit could be easily revoked by the government because of opposition from nearby residents. This is exactly what happened in Cinere, Depok recently.

On March 2, Depok mayor Nurmahmudi Ismail issued an ordinance that revoked a building permit for a Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) church that had already been obtained from the Bogor regent on June 13, 1998. The revocation was done in response to opposition from the area's majority Muslim residents.

I am not surprised, as so many churches, particularly in West Java, have been forcibly closed in the past several years. According to the edition of "The Jakarta Post" paper published on May 7, at least 30 churches have been forcibly closed in West Java between September 2004 and April 2007.

The closure of the churches is mainly the foot work of radical groups who always claim the churches lack the necessary permit. The radical groups have even attacked a congregation and forced them to stop praying in the middle of church services, as the worshipers were still observing their sacral rituals.

This was a tragic incident for the country that holds the "Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa" 1) - the first item of the Pancasila state ideology, which guarantees the freedom to embrace any state sanctioned religion (which includes both Islam and Christianity) - in such high regard.

Indeed, it is unbelievable to learn that in Indonesia, people are prevented from congregating to pray. It is also unbelievable to learn that in Indonesia, people are attacked and ousted from their churches, just because the church supposedly lacks a permit.

***

Serpong, 12 May 2009

Titus J.

Note:
1) Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa (Believe in one God) is the first principle of Pancasila as the state ideology. Pancasila comprises panca=five, sila=principle.