Is Indonesia a nation that abides by the rule of law? Do its elected officials respect the law and govern in accordance with the edicts of the courts?

These are the critical questions that will determine the type of society we wish to have and are at the heart of the standoff between the Bogor administration and a local church.

The Supreme Court has demanded that the city comply with its order to allow the GKI Yasmin church to reopen.

In a letter signed by justice Paulus Effendy Lotulung dated on June 1, the court said Indonesia's laws must be upheld. That the highest court in the land has been forced to issue such a demand does not bode well for the rule of law in this country.

There are no way two ways about it. The Bogor government must without any further delay reopen the church in compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling. If local governments are allowed to ignore or even defy the courts, it will lead to total chaos. Individuals will take the law into their own hands and local governments will ride roughshod over the rights of minority groups.

We fully support the call by justice Akil Mochtar to arrest and jail officials from the administration if they continue to violate the law. Even if the local government disagrees with the ruling, it must abide by it.

It is shameful and unacceptable that members of the GKI Yasmin congregation have been forced to worship by the side of the road after the Bogor administration, backed by local police, revoked their permit and used this as justification to seal the church. This is not the type of country that the vast majority of Indonesians would wish for or accept.

Even the United Nations has written to the government expressing concern about the increasing reports about violence committed against religious minorities, including in the Bogor case. This is not the image Indonesia wants to project at a time when it is being seen as a rising regional and global power.

More importantly it is not the type of country we as citizens would want to be a part of. Whatever the reasons or factors behind the Bogor government's decision to seal the church, it must now reopen.

Anything else would be an outright rejection of the rule of law in this country, and a step down the road to anarchy.