Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Vento Saudale & Agus Triyono – The president is being challenged to uphold both his obligation as the head of state and his personal promise to resolve the increasingly untenable situation affecting Bogor's GKI Yasmin church congregation.
Rumadi, the program coordinator at think tank the Wahid Institute, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had made a promise to church leaders when they met him at his residence in Bogor late last year.
"You said you would make a personal visit to resolve the Yasmin church conflict. Your officials, the mayor of Bogor and related ministers have already shown that they cannot solve it themselves. Mr. President, you must fulfill your promise immediately," Rumadi said at a news conference on Sunday.
Lawmakers Eva Kusuma Sundari and Lily Wahid have visited the Christian congregation in recent weekends to demonstrate their support for the congregation's right to worship free of harassment by increasingly aggressive crowds of Islamic hard-liners.
Eva, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), visited the congregation on Jan. 15 and was jostled by a jeering crowd of protestors.
Lily, a lawmaker from the Islam-based National Awakening Party (PKB) and sister of the late president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, also attended that day and again last weekend.
On Sunday, Lily remonstrated with protestors from the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) who surrounded a Bogor home where Yasmin congregation members were worshipping.
She has previously said the president must step in to tell Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto to abide by a year-old Supreme Court ruling ordering him to reopen the Yasmin Church, which his administration has sealed off since 2008.
Eva echoed the call in Jakarta on Sunday. "The hands-off attitude of the central government continues, and the result is an escalation of violence and a widening group of people becoming involved," she said.
Eva said she had received information that many of the protestors who threatened the Yasmin congregation on Sunday were not even residents of Bogor but had been bussed in from towns several hours away. She said she had seen an SMS showing that Garis had mobilized protestors from Sukabumi and Cianjur in West Java.
She said the president's attitude showed no sense of urgency, and she added that the House of Representatives had repeatedly postponed meetings scheduled to discuss the issue.
Usman Hamid, a rights activist at the International Center for Transitional Justice, also urged the president to take action by making a personal visit and enforcing the Supreme Court's unsealing order.