West Java: Catholics targeted by Bogor authorities, "house of prayer" closed down
Jakarta (AsiaNews) - With the pretext of
irregularities in building permits, public safety officials (the Satpol PP) in Bogor, West Java province, yesterday sealed off a
"house of prayer" used by over 6 thousand Catholics from the parish
of St. John the
Baptist. For six years, the faithful have regularly used the building for weekend
liturgies and those of the main Christian festivals, but had recently come
under fire from authorities - three times - ordering them to stop all worship.
The Catholic community has deliberately ignored the warnings, believing the
closure order related IMB specious and counting on the legitimate right to
religious freedom.
The process for building a
church in Indonesia
- Catholic or Protestant - is quite complicated and may take five to ten years
to obtain all permits required by law. The procedure is governed by the Izin
Mendirikan Bangunan (IMB), a species of written protocol that allows for
construction to commence and is issued by local authorities. The
story gets more complicated if it is a place of Christian worship: permission
must be obtained from a number of residents in the area where the building is
to be constructed and the local Group for Interfaith Dialogue. And even if the
permission is granted "unspecified reasons" can come into play that
will lead officials to block the projects. Often, this occurs after pressure
from the Muslim community or radical Islamic movements.
The "house of
prayer" is situated in Tulang Kuning, the village
of Waru, in the Parung sub-district, Bogor regency. Yesterday
a group of Satpol PP officers, led by Comerain La Ode, said the forced closure was
"for the next seven days" and warned that "if the site is still
used to pray in" teams would intervene to "demolish the
building" .
However, local AsiaNews sources
report that the Catholic community will not be intimidated and intend to hold
their regular celebrations next weekend. "We have no alternative - said
Fr. Gaib Pr, pastor of St. John
the Baptist - but to gather in this place of prayer." He added that
Catholics have fulfilled all the ritual procedures for obtaining building
permits, but for years the Bogor
administration refuses to grant any clearances.
Moreover, the authorities of the municipality
of Bogor are not new to
incidents of abuse and violence against other religions, particularly the Protestant
Christian community that refers to the GKI
Yasmin Church (YC), long a target of Mayor Diani Budiarto and his zealous
officials, who have recently closed their place of worship on the same pretext.
In the past, also, the area was the scene of anti-Christian violence especially
during major holidays such as Christmas or Easter (see AsiaNews 23/12/2012 West
Java: Islamic extremist groups threaten Catholics, Christmas celebrations at
risk).
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