Residents accuse hard-liners of breaking peace

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 09/22/2010 9:14 AM

Denying claims by hard-line groups, many residents from the Pondok Timur Indah housing complex in Bekasi, West Java, say they do not object to the religious activities conducted by the HKBP Protestant Church in the area.

“For dozens of years we have never had any problems with the congregation,” Ery, a Muslim who has lived in the area for about 20 years, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

She said the busy housing complex started to lose its peaceful atmosphere last year when dozens of men in traditional Muslim attire began protesting near the church located on Jl. Puyuh Raya on Sundays, demanding its closure.

“They were clad in long, white robes. Some wore turbans. I don’t know where they came from. They just showed up out of the blue,” said the 49-year-old woman, who runs a food stall in her yard.

Claiming to represent local Muslim residents, hard-line groups called for the closure of the HKBP church — established in the area a year after Pondok Timur Indah opened in 1989 — saying it did not have a permit to conduct religious activities.

Earlier this year, the Bekasi administration sealed off the Jl. Puyuh Raya site, which had been used for Sunday service since 2005. The congregation, however, refused to move, so in July, the building was again sealed off.

After moving to an empty field three kilometers away on Jl. Asem Raya in mid-August, the congregation has been the target of repeated attacks by mobs of hard-liners calling themselves the Islamic Community Forum (FUI).

The harassment came to a peak on Sept. 12 when two HKBP church officials were assaulted on their way to a Sunday service in the field.

Police have named 10 suspects, including the former leader of the local branch of the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI), in the incident.

Utik, who lived in a house a few meters away from the sealed-off church for almost 15 years, said, “Even though I was born a Muslim, it has always been fine for me to have people of different faiths around me as I believe that choosing a religion is each person’s right.”

However, she said, not all Muslims were like her as some could not accept that they lived in a country with many cultures and faiths.

The Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) said at least 11 churches and Christian institutions in Greater Jakarta were either destroyed or sealed off between January and August this year.

“How can we fight these hard-line groups? The administration holds the key to solving such problems,” Utik told the Post.

Sukemi, who lives near the church construction site on Jl. Asem Raya, said she did not object to a church in her neighborhood, as long as the congregation had permission to conduct services in the area.

“We were told the church broke the law because it did not have any permit,” she added.

“My neighbors feel sorry for me. They wonder why it is so hard for me to practise my faith,” Christina, a member of the HKBP congregation, said. (rch)

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