Theresia Sufa, Bogor – Bogor regency administration issued an order on Monday to seal the St. Johannes Catholic church, due to permit issues.

On Monday afternoon, officers from the Public Order Agency sealed the church after warning letters were ignored for a third time. The administration had demanded that the church obtain a building permit before holding services.

"I refused to sign the letter ordering closure. I will object to the agency, challenging the order," Father Albertus Simbol Gaib said. He said that since 2007, the church had submitted all documents necessary for the building permit, but the administration always rejected the application.

He said that the administration argued that residents did not want a church in the neighborhood. "It is not true! We have gathered signatures from 200 nearby residents who support construction of the church," he said. "There was never a follow-up any time we tried to obtain the permit."

The agency's head could not be contacted for comment. The church sealing is not the first case of its kind in Bogor, West Java.

Since 2010, members of the Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) have been barred from conducting regular church services because Bogor city administration revoked a building permit it had previously approved.

In reviewing the case, the Supreme Court last year ruled against Bogor administration, ordering it to reopen the church. However, Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto remains defiant.

The Indonesian Ombudsman's office also recommended that Bogor city administration revoke its 2011 decree annulling the church's construction permit.

For more than two years, members have had to conduct services on the pavement in front of the church. During services outside the church, they often face fierce harassment from groups of protesters.

In fear of radical groups, members of the beleaguered GKI Taman Yasmin Protestant church now hold clandestine services at the houses of congregation members. They have also conducted Sunday service in front of the State Palace, seeking support from the government.

In May, a proposal to end the GKI Yasmin saga came after the President's Advisory Council and the National Defense Council (Wantannas) brokered a month-long negotiation between the church and Bogor administration to build a mosque adjacent to the church.