0 Islamic Religious Group to Demonstrate Against Catholic Church

A religious forum that has been calling on the government to shut down a Catholic church in Tambora, West Jakarta, plan to hold a protest at the church on Friday afternoon. “Two hundred demonstrators, mostly women from an Islamic study group, will submit residents' rejection [letter] towards the plan to change social facility permits into church permits [from the government] as well as [plans] to renovate the building,” Tambora police chief Comr. Donny Eka Syahputra said on Friday. 

After demonstrating in front of the Damai Kristus Church, the protesters from the Duri Selatan Mosque Forum will also stage a demonstration at the West Jakarta municipal office, Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) and State Palace and submit copies of the rejection letter. “We advise people not to get provoked concerning issues of residents' attack,” Donny said. “The demonstration will be secured by the Tambora police, the West Jakarta Police and the Jakarta Police.” The local government has been trying to mediate the conflict involving religious figures from both sides since November 2007. 

But so far, they have failed to reach an agreement. Pastor Antonius Benny Susetyo, executive secretary of the Commission of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, told the Jakarta Globe that the protesters misunderstood the problem. He said that the protesters thought the church used the social facilities of the Damai school complex as a service venue. “It is a church, in the same complex with the school,” Antonius explained. “It is not a hall as they thought.” Antonius said that the church had no building permit, but when it was built in 1968, there was no regulation on building permits. 

“In 2006, the government issued a joint ministerial decree in which its transitional regulation stated that in the case of a house of worship that has been permanently used and or has historical value but has no building permit, a mayor or district chief should issue the permit,” Antonius said. “At that time, it was not only churches that had no building permits, but also mosques,” Antonius said. “This is the obligation of the local government to issue decisions that the church is legal as it has been built for forty years.” Antonius said that as many as 6,000 congregation members joined Sunday services every week. “There is no other Catholic church nearby,” he said, adding that the protesters were not residents of Tambora. “The church has good relations with the residents.”

source : the jakarta globe