A Muslim crowd near Jakarta, Indonesia, requested that the congregation suspend services on Sunday (September 21), sources said.
At least 20 Muslims arrived at Bethel Church (GBI) in Tangerang, a satellite town in Jakarta, at 9am, an hour before the congregation began their worship service at a commercial facility in Gülenden Paro village in Kalawasi district. Muslims requested that all services be stopped until the church has obtained all relevant permission.
“There should be no religious activity here,” the elderly Muslim told pastor Melki Gern, who said the police had blocked mediation that mediation should be carried out to maintain social peace in Tangerang city.
Unlike other suspensions of worship, Muslim crowds did not chant the violence, insults or loudly of the jihadist slogan “Arahu Akbar (God is bigger).”
The man, later identified by the media as the head of a local neighbours, is seen telling Pastor Melkie that permission previously granted by bribery was obtained through bribery, just as the church provided some of their needs. The pastor replied that church leaders would consider the case.
Officers brought parties to the police station to discuss the dispute.
Pastor Melky told the media on Monday (September 22) that when the crowd arrived he was scared, locked up the gate and called police. The Plain Cross officer was already nearby after a similar incident occurred the week before residents entered the storefront church on the second floor during the service, he said.
Church leaders on Monday met with Chief of Kalawasi and representatives from the Religious Harmony Forum (Foja Sama Umat Belagama, FKUB, FKUB, FKUB, FKUB) according to a Facebook police statement.
“The situation is safe and fostered,” police said.
The church has received permission from the Mosque Prosperity Council, the mosque’s management organization, to carry out church activities on its site, sources said.
It’s unclear
According to a statement from the Instagram account Gerakanpis, the Indonesian Movement for All (Pergerakan Untuk Semua, PIS), a non-governmental organization dedicated to democracy, said the underlying cause of the conflict is unknown.
“The church has collected ID card signatures for about 20 residents and completed its permit applications,” it said. “The police on the scene did not take any action.”
Edy Suhardono, director of the IISA Centre for Evaluation and Research and lecturer at various universities, said that such cases reflect a failure in regulation.
“Many cases of bans regarding the construction of worship and religious services are merely an implicit perception of the failure of current regulatory frameworks,” a social psychologist told Morningstar News.
Eddie said on kompas.com, a leading Indonesian media conglomerate, the 2006 joint order of the Minister of Religion and the Minister of Home Affairs on the Religion System “creating a harsh reality that people from many religious communities, especially minority groups, cannot meet the very strict management requirements, and forcing them to use them to force them to pray for their homes, the excuse for “lack of permission.” ”
Such cases continue to occur in Indonesia, an Instagram user who has been attracting attention in response to the PIS statement.
“The ban on worship continues… because they know they will not be jailed,” said account user Agussianipar76. “At best, it will be resolved through deliberation at a stamp of 10,000 rupiah, making it clear that this is merely a misunderstanding.”
Indonesian society has adopted a more conservative Islamic character in recent years, and churches involved in evangelical outreach risk being targeted by Islamic extremist groups, according to the open door.
