Indonesian Protestant church opens after 15-year row
Senior government officials attended the opening of a Protestant church in Indonesia, whose construction was stalled for 15 years due to opposition from hardline Muslim groups.
The Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI Yasmin) in Bogor, West Java, was inaugurated on April 9 in the presence of Mahfud MD, coordinating minister for politics and security, Muhammad Tito Karnavian, minister for home affairs, and Atnike Nova, chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.
Mahfud said the new church was a "special Easter gift" from the government for Christians."Congratulations to all parties who have fought and worked hard so we could complete this representative church building," he said.
Bima Arya, mayor of Bogor, apologized for the delayed process of building the church.He said the construction of the church was the result of the hard work of all parties, including regional authorities and the federal government.
"It would be impossible for all of us to be here, without the magnanimity of all,” he said.
Suhud Setyo Wardono, general secretary of the Synod of the Indonesian Christian Church, which oversees the new place of worship, said he was grateful that the local government provided the best solution to the 15-year standoff.
"We believe this long process, even though previously it was protracted, can be completed with a strong commitment to fight for goodness through wise ways by prioritizing deliberation," he said.
The GKI Yasmin congregation started building the church in 2007 after securing a permit from the local government. However, the permit was later revoked and subsequently, the half-finished church building was sealed off due to opposition from hardline Muslim groups.
A year later, the congregation was banned from using the church, citing irregularities in the application.Backed by the ombudsman, the congregation managed to secure the right to worship in the church through a Supreme Court order, but the local government sealed it off again in 2011.
Next year, the congregation organized its Sunday services outside the presidential palace in Jakarta, seeking his intervention.As a compromise, the new church was built in another location, about 1 kilometer away from the half-finished church building.
Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the deputy chairperson of the advocacy group Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, had objected to the relocation plan since it was initiated in 2017.
Tigor said the relocation was a hard choice given to the congregation to end the 15-year stalemate.
"Many of them think that they are looking for security and safety if they submit to power," said Naipospos.
He said the relocation of the church building is an old pattern that the government always uses in resolving the row over houses of worship in Indonesia.
“When there is a problem in one place, then it is moved to another place.” The minority always has “to be in a position of giving in and accepting,” he told .
Bona Sigalingging, former spokesperson for GKI Yasmin who objected to the relocation, said everything shown in the 'inauguration ceremony' was an example of the state's failure to implement Pancasila [state’s secular ideology] and the 1945 Constitution purely and consistently."
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