APSN Banner

Home Indonesia Aceh West Papua East Timor

Bekasi's district chief fails to find solution for religious intolerance

Jakarta Globe - April 2, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – Bekasi's district head has failed to come up with a solution for a group of pastors, representing the district's beleaguered Christian community, over the spate of forced closures and demolition of churches by the local Public Order Agency.

Neneng Hasanah Yasin, the Bekasi District head, met with the group of 30 pastors for an hour on Monday to discuss religious intolerance cases in Bekasi.

"There was no solution given by the district chief," Adven Leonard Nababan, the pastor from the recently-demolished HKBP Taman Sari church, told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. "She only gave a personal statement about the intolerance cases in Bekasi. She said that she personally did not want it to happen."

The pastors decided to meet with Neneng on Monday after the half-constructed HKBP Taman Sari Church in Setu, Bekasi, was demolished by the Bekasi Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) on March 21, upon the instruction of Neneng. The protestant church was still trying to secure a building approval when the government delivered an order to demolish the church following rejection from Islamic hard-liners in Bekasi.

The group also asked Neneng to reopen the HKBP Filadelfia church, which has been sealed since 2010. The Supreme Court had ordered the government to issue a building permit for the church but Neneng had refused to sign off on it.

"When questioned about Filadelfia, she said that she considered people's rejection," Adven said. "Though there's a Supreme Court decision for Filadelfia, she said that in reality local people rejected the church. So she refused to reopen the church."

When the group insisted that Neneng had violated the law by illegally demolishing the HKBP Taman Sari church, the district head said she had other things to do and could not continue with the meeting.

"We were all disappointed with her statement and decision to leave us before any agreement or solution was reached," Adven said. "She had no integrity or responsibility." Neneng did not not respond to requests for comment by the Jakarta Globe.