An Indonesian village is obstructing the establishment of a church, despite claims from church leaders that every one legal requirements have been met within the predominantly Muslim nation.
Locals within the village of Sungai Keledang, Samarinda Seberang district in East Kalimantan, hung banners protesting efforts by the church to achieve a licence and said that they rejected the establishment of a church within the village.
Hendra Kusuma, chairperson of the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Belief (AKKBB) in East Kalimantan and the legal counsel for the Sungai Keledang Toraja Church, told International Christian Concern that this was the third time such banners had been displayed.
“We deeply regret this … This is a type of symbolic intimidation that continues to repeat itself. In fact, from a legal and administrative perspective, we’ve got complied with all applicable provisions,” Kusuma said.
Kusuma said that the church has a letter of advice from Indonesia’s Interfaith Harmony Forum, in addition to from the Samarinda City Ministry of Religion. In addition, the church has a letter of support from 80 local residents, meeting the minimum requirements needed under regulations surrounding the establishment of recent religious buildings.
The church has around 90 lively members. Kusuma has suggested an open dialogue between the congregants and their non-Christian neighbours, within the hope that an affordable solution could be reached.
“I also need to hear from the parties who reject it what are the explanations behind the rejection of the establishment of this church house of worship,” Kusuma said. “Because all the necessities have been met, hopefully, the federal government or the DPRD can facilitate this later.”
In East Kalimantan the overwhelming majority of the population are Muslim, with nearly 12 per cent being Christian, mostly Protestant, but with a big variety of Catholics amongst them. The figures are broadly similar to the remaining of Indonesia.
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