Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin congregation's long fight for their right to pray in their church went back to square one on Wednesday when the House of Representatives (DPR) ignored the Supreme Court's (MA) ruling and told the churchgoers to go back to the negotiation table to seek a solution.
The House's stance was presented in a meeting with the relevant ministries, the Ombudsman and the National Police, with the GKI Yasmin congregation in attendance. The hearing was held in an attempt to find a solution to the lengthy standoff between the Bogor administration and the churchgoers.
The Bogor administration has for more than two years banned the congregation from using its church for religious services due to permit application issues. The local administration defied a 2010 Supreme Court ruling guaranteeing the congregation's right to hold services at the church.
Despite the fact that the problem was rooted in the unwillingness of the administration to follow the court's verdict, Wednesday's meeting did not touch upon the issue at all.
Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the Bogor mayor had executed the Supreme Court's verdict but he later issued another decree to annul the church's construction permit.
"This is the reason why the government has taken the initiative to bring all the parties concerned to the negotiating table to seek a peaceful solution," he said, adding that the key problem was the construction permit and not sectarian conflict.
Gamawan said with regard to the Bogor mayor's new decree, the Supreme Court has issued an edict which would allow GKI Yasmin to file another lawsuit if they wished.
The meeting was tense from the beginning as United Development Party (PPP) and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) legislators protested the presence of the Yasmin congregation.
Legislator Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) demanded the meeting comply with the Supreme Court's verdict and the Ombudsman's recommendation.
Fellow legislator Lily Wahid Chadijah recalled that she and Eva had been intimidated and forced away from the church by hardliners when they recently visited.
The Ombudsman's deputy chairwoman, Azlaeny Agus, lambasted the Bogor mayor as a dissident for refusing to comply with the Supreme Court's ruling and ignoring the recommendation by the Ombudsman, the independent state institution supervising the government's public service.
The GKI Yasmin delegation expressed their disappointment with the House, which they said had failed to recognize the supremacy of the law and, instead, had bowed under the weight of slander surrounding the issue of the construction permit and the Munir Karta case.
"The Ombudsman stated the validity of the church's building permit was not related to the Munir Karta case after it investigated the real problem in the field," GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalinging said.
Munir Karta, a neighborhood chief at the Yasmin Housing Compound, was convicted by the Bogor District Court last year for falsifying 10 resident signatures when applying for the construction permit. Karta's appeal to the Supreme Court is pending.