Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – Around 100 members of a church congregation in Bekasi held their Sunday service under tight police security after hundreds of local residents held a rally to protest the legality of their church that is currently under construction.

Wearing white, more than 200 residents of Jejalen Jaya subdistrict gathered at around 9 a.m. in front of a block of a land surrounded by a two-meter-high wall, where members of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP) congregation held their Sunday service.

Shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) and yelling words like "Go Away" and "We have been deceived", residents forced their way into the compound, but were blocked by 200 police officers, deployed from Bekasi Police and seven other precincts to secure the area and ensure that the congregation's services could continue.

Nesan, a local leader who led the protest, said the congregation must stop the service and any other religious activities there until they obtained a building permit for their church. "[The congregation] never had permission to hold services here," he said.

Established in 2000, the Filadelfia HKBP congregation in Tambun Utara, Bekasi, currently has around 500 members. For almost 10 years the congregation has held services at members' homes. In 2007, the congregation bought a 1,000-square-meter plot in Jejalen Jaya, to build its own church.

Church officials claim they informed local residents and subdistrict officials that they intended to use the land for a church. The church construction committee had submitted a request for a building permit to Bekasi administration. Their request, however, remains unanswered.

In October 2009, the committee earned permission from the local subdistrict to hold services on the empty block of land. The committee then built an 8-by-10-meter semipermanent building to store items such as tables and chairs.

Responding to the incident, Bekasi regent Sa'duddin issued an official letter on Dec. 31 ordering the congregation to stop any construction or religious activity on the land until a building permit for their church "had been processed according to the existing law".

The letter, however, did not explain when the administration would begin processing the church's building permit application.

Bekasi administration says it would facilitate a meeting on Tuesday between representatives of the Filadelfia HKBP congregation and Jejalen Jaya residents, hoping to resolve the problem.