BEKASI, Indonesia — A local government official in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia has forbidden all worship of the Filadelfia Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church (HKBP) in Jejalan village.
On April 12, Regent Sa’duddin ordered a halt to all activities of the church, including worship services that have been held on a strip of roadside land since the government Jan. 12 summarily sealed the church’s building, which was under construction.
Announcing the order at a meeting of government officials with HKBP Pastor Palti Panjaitan present, Vice-Regent Darip Mulyana said the reason for the closure of the church’s makeshift site was that worship interfered with “community activities,” though the site is on a nearly deserted roadside bordering vacant fields.
The regent also suggested that the church join with another HKBP congregation in the Graha Prima housing development, far from the Filadelfia church’s site. Panjaitan said the church objects to this suggestion as it would be impractical, creating time and transportation difficulties.
Mulyana said Sa’duddin had ruled that the church needs to find a new place to construct its prospective permanent church building because local residents had rejected it — even though the church had secured approval from local residents when it submitted its application for a permit in 2008. The government has never acted on the application, and since then Islamic organizations have organized protests to try to pressure government officials to deny approval.
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