Depok – Following the Depok municipality's decision to annul the building permit (IMB) for a Protestant Batak Christian (HKBP) church in Cinere, the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace said Thursday it would protest against the decision.

"The constitution guarantees the right to build houses of worship. Moreover in this case, the church congregation had already secured the building permit prior to the current Depok mayor administration," said Setara executive director Hendardi.

In 1998, the church construction committee received a building permit from the administration to build a church and multifunctional hall on 5,000 square-meters of land. The former Depok mayor, Badrul Kamal, however, suggested the committee stop building the church in May 1999 following a series of protests from nearby residents.

Since early 2008, the committee has repeatedly sent letters to Nurmahmudi Ismail asking for a response, after getting no clarification for nine years.

On March 27, Nurmahmudi finally cancelled the church's building permit.