|
Members
of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in
Cinere village, Depok, West Java appeared in court on
June 29, 2009 to contest the mayor's revocation of their
building permit in March, while students of the
shuttered Arastamar School of Theology (SETIA)
demonstrated in Jakarta on June 15, asking officials to
honor promises to provide them with a new campus.
HKBP church leaders filed suit against the decision in
the state court in Bandung, West Java. Two court
sessions have been held so far, on June 2 and June 29,
with Depok Mayor Nur Mahmudi Ismail represented by
Syafrizal, the head of the Depok legal department and
who goes by the single name, and political associate
Jhon Sinton Nainggolan.
Mahmudi issued a decree on March 27 cancelling a
building permit that was initially granted to the HKBP
church in Cinere on June 13, 1998, allowing it to
establish a place of worship.
The mayor said he had acted in response to complaints
from residents. Contrary to Indonesian law, however,
Mahmudi did not consult the church before revoking the
permit.
Nainggolan, arguing for Mahmudi, claimed the revocation
was legal because it was based on a request from local
citizens and would encourage religious harmony in Cinere.
But Betty Sitompul, manager of the building project,
strongly disputed this claim.
“Our immediate neighbors have no objection,” she told
Compass. “A small minority who don't think this way have
influenced people from outside the immediate
neighborhood to make this complaint.”
Sitompul added that the church had been meeting in a
naval facility located about five kilometers (nearly
three miles) from the church building since the permit
was revoked, causing great inconvenience for church
members, many of whom did not have their own
transportation.
According to Kasno, who heads the People's Coalition for
National Unity in Depok and is known only by a single
name, the mayor had clearly violated procedures set
forth in a Joint Ministerial Decree, issued in 1969 and
revised in 2006, regulating places of worship.
Legal advocate Junimart Girsang, representing the
church, confirmed that under the revised decree,
conflicts must not be solved unilaterally but through
consultation and consensus with the parties involved. He
also said it was against normal practice to revoke a
building permit.
Construction of the church building began in 1998,
shortly after the permit was issued, but halted soon
afterward due to a lack of funds. When the project
recommenced in 2007, members of a Muslim group from
Cinere and neighboring villages damaged the boundary
hedge and posted protest banners on the walls of the
building. Most of the protestors were not local
residents, Sitompul said.
By that stage the building was almost completed and
church members were using it for worship services. (See
www.compassdirect.org, “Mayor Revokes Church
Permit,” May 5.)
SETIA Protest
In Jakarta, hundreds of SETIA students demonstrated in
front of the presidential palace on June 15, calling on
officials to honor promises made in March to provide
them with a new campus. (See www.compassdirect.org, “New
Building Site Found for Bible College,” May 11.)
At least 1,400 staff and students remain in three
separate locations in sub-standard facilities, causing
great disruption to their studies, according to the
students. The original campus in Kampung Pulo, East
Jakarta, closed after neighbors attacked students with
machetes in July 2008 and remains cordoned off by
police.
In negotiations with SETIA director Matheus Mangentang
in May, Jakarta officials again promised to assist the
school in finding a new site, and promised to work with
neighbors to secure approval for a building permit.
Joko Prabowo, the school's general secretary, said he
believes officials have now reneged on these promises.
When school officials recently requested relocation to
Cipayung, East Jakarta, the governor's office rejected
their proposal, citing community resistance.
Deputy Gov. Prijanto, who has only a single name, had
initially suggested Cikarang in West Java as a new
location, but SETIA staff rejected this offer, saying
the site was outside Jakarta provincial limits and a
move would be prohibitively expensive.
|
