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September 24, 2006

Indonesia: Muslims Try To Demolish Church

A day before Ramadan, Muslim fanatics tried to demolish a church in West Java, states the Jakarta Post. The church is basically a private house, in the hamlet of Cibintinu, Arjasari village, 12 miles south of Bandung.

50 Muslim extremists gathered to demolish the building, but were thwarted by the police. The police apparently informed the rabble that no organizations or individuals were authorized to close places of worship.

The Muslims had received approval from the Anti-Apostasy Division (DAP) of the Islamic Ulema Forum (FUUI) which is led by Suryana Nur Fatwama.

The Muslims had gathered at a nearby mosque, and left from there at 9 am in the morning yesterday.

The group marched to Yayasan Penginjilan Roti Kehidupan church, whose administrator is one Ibu Eri. The Muslims demanded that she close the church, but she refused. Then members of the Muslim mob began to demolish the roof.

About 10 officers from the Bandung police arrived, and told the mob to halt their actions. Later the Bandung police chief arrived and said that anyone who tried to interfere with the building would be arrested.

The church had been forced to shut a year previously by local Muslim militants, but had reopened two weeks ago. A neighbourhood official said: "It has a congregation of only seven members, including two residents from the local village. The two had just converted to Christianity. We are disturbed by their presence and worried if they spread their teachings among local residents who are nearly 100 percent Muslim."

We wrote last year of the issue of church closures in Indonesia. The "closures" are often forced by militants from groups such as the Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Front Pembela Islam (Islamic Defenders' Front) who combine with the members of the Alliance of Anti-APostasy Movement..

However these militants exploited a law which was introduced by the second dictator of Indonesia, Haji Mohamed Suharto, who ruled from 1967 to 1998 when he was deposed. This law, which dates from 1969, is called the Joint Ministerial Decree or SKB. This law required that any place of worship should have a permit. Originally brought in as a tool to stem the influence of Islamists, the law had subsequently been used by Islamists to attack Christian communities.

On March 21, this law was revised by the religious affairs minister, M. Naftuh Basyuni and home minister M. Ma'ruf. Though numerous churches in West Java had been threatened under the old version of the SKB, with 23 churches being closed and many more threatened with closure, the revised law was biased in favour of the Muslim majority.

The new version of the SKB law means that for any noew place of worship to instituted legally, it must have the assent of 60 people of another faith, who live in the area, and it must already have 90 members of its congregation. By requiring so large a congregation at start-up, the law is a Catch-22. urthermore, the new place of worship needs a permit from the local administration and the Communication Forum for Religious Harmony.

So far, 30 churches have been forcibly closed in West Java since 2004, and dozens more have been shut down in other provinces.

For a background to the Islamic Defenders' Front, see our Special Report: Exchanging Pluralism For An Islamist State. For a previous report on church closures in Indonesia see here. Islamists tried in May to close a Christian Radio station in the coastal town of Cirebon, West Java.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 24, 2006 4:17 PM

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