Camelia Pasandaran – The Bekasi district government will demolish a church in Setu, Bekasi on Thursday because the church has no building permit.

Deputy Bekasi district chief Rohim Mintareja told Tempo.co on Tuesday that the church, HKBP Taman Sari, had violated the Bekasi bylaw requiring houses of worship to obtain a permit.

Rohim said the government had warned the church several times but the church ignored the warnings, so a joint team of officers from the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), military and police will demolish the building.

"The letter to dismantle the building has been signed by district chief Neneng Hasanah Yasin," Rohim said.

Rohim said that the government had offered to allow the congregation to worship in different building to prevent clashes with residents, but members reportedly refused the idea.

"The government should take a strict action to keep the situation conducive, and [the church] should also comply with the existing regulation," Rohim said.

The pastor of HKBP Taman Sari, Adven Leonard Nababan, said that the church would file a lawsuit against the Bekasi district government if it dismantles the church.

The deputy director of human rights group Setara Institute, Bonar Tigor, told Jakarta Globe that the church has tried to obtain the permit, but it was not successful.

"HKBP Setu met all the requirements. They have already obtained 60 residents' signatures as stipulated by the regulation," Bonar said. "It has been approved by the urban ward chief. When waiting for the approval of the subdistrict chief, there was rejection from the residents. Some residents who had signed the agreement decided to revoke their support."

He said that the government should not "demolish a House of God, and instead give facility for the congregation to exercise their religion."

Bonar said 29 other HKBP churches in Bekasi could face the same problem. "There are 39 HKBP churches in both Bekasi district and Bekasi city, but only 10 that have obtained building permits," Bonar said. "It's so difficult to get the building permit at all levels, from the neighborhood unit chief up to the district or municipal office."

While the process of getting a permit is difficult, Bonar said that some churches could speed up the process by paying large sums of money to government offices.

"In a Toraja church in Bintaro, they paid to the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) Rp 400 million ($41,140) for them to get the permit from the government," Bonar said. "They got the building permit soon after giving the money."

Bonar said that another HKBP church in Bekasi that had not obtained the permit was also opposed by residents. But after the church paid monthly installments of Rp 1.5 million to FBR and the Satpol PP, the residents stopped protesting the church.

HKBP Setu is not the first church to be dismantled in Indonesia. In 2010, a Pentecostal church named Narogong located in Limusnunggal village, Cileungsi was demolished by Bogor police for not having a permit. In 2012, 17 churches in Aceh Singkil district were demolished by the Satpol PP for the same reason.