Islamists in June demonstrated against the presence of a church in one city in West Java Province, Indonesia and prevented a funeral Mass in another, local sources reported.
Dozens of Muslims demonstrated against the church in the Hegarmanah Indah housing complex, Cikancung District, Bandung Regency, on June 24, video appearing online shows. Christian women recorded and responded to the protestors.
At one point the group chanted the jihadist slogan “Allahu Akbar [God is greater]” and announced they would say Islamic prayers. The protestors were not local residents and were unknown to neighborhood inhabitants, according to eyewitness testimony documented by the Vera Sihombing Community and posted on Facebook by account Keke M.
The demonstrators claimed the church endangered the Muslim faith of youth. They threatened violence against Christian women and warned they would burn the worship building, the video shows.
The video notes the place of worship had an official permit to hold services once weekly on Wednesdays. Other sources on the video say the venue has been used for worship for three years on Wednesdays, and that the congregation intended to begin using it for Sunday services.
The Hegarmanah Indah complex was developed by a pastor identified only as Marudut, who began the project in the 1990s but paused construction from 2020 to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An Instagram video posted by account @SahabatTapanuli records a conversation between Pastor Marudut and Hasan Nasbi, special staff to the president for communications. In the clip, Marudut says he allowed one mosque to be built in the housing complex and donated an additional plot of private land for another mosque on the lot.
“So you donated land to build a mosque, and you also donated land to build a [Christian] place of worship because there are Christians so they would also have a place to pray?” Nasbi asks. “There shouldn’t be a problem. Why are some parties rejecting it?”
Nasbi then says he and the special staff to the Minister of Religious Affairs, Gugun Gumilar, will look into the issue.
Pastor Marudut told Nasbi that opposition to the Christian place of worship began after a change in the neighborhood association leadership.
Funeral Mass Blocked
No arrests were reported in Bandung following the case, and on Sunday evening (June 28), another incident occurred in Bulak Timur village, Jembatan Serong neighborhood, Cipayung District, Depok city, West Java.
Video shows dozens of people sitting on a floor awaiting a Mass to be held for a deceased Catholic resident identified only as Sihotang. Local officials prevented the Mass even though the priest had arrived at the home, the video reports.
The head of the neighborhood association (RT) forbid any organized worship, saying only private prayer would be permitted, Liputan6.com reported.
Cipayung village head Husni Mubarok told Liputan6 that the incident was a misunderstanding between the bereaved family and local officials. He said the head of the local RT was out of town when the family requested permission for the funeral Mass.
Prayers were already conducted at the home of the bereaved and would continue at a funeral home, according to Husni. He said neighbors, local officials and neighborhood leadership assisted the family and provided condolence money.
Mediation by officials proceeded well, and the bereaved family was later allowed to hold a funeral Mass at home accompanied by a single-organ accompaniment, according to Instagram account @Depok24Jam.
The body was scheduled to be transported to Kamboja Funeral Home behind Hermina Hospital on Monday (June 29), with burial planned for the next day.
One citizen encouraged the public to tag the Instagram account of West Java Gov. Dedi Mulyadi to draw attention to the incident.
“Please tag Kang Dedi Mulyadi’s account as much as possible,” David Herson Tonius said via Instagram. “Just a few days ago, this happened in Bandung, and now it’s happening again in Depok. Masses and consolation services are prohibited for deceased people.”
The chair of SETARA Institute, who goes by the single name of Hendardi, called repeated persecution, bans on worship, closures and rejection of houses of worship a serious problem in Indonesia. He said pressure from the masses and discriminatory regulations are trampling constitutional rights.
“The state fails to fulfill its constitutional obligation to protect every citizen without discrimination,” Hendardi told Morning Star News.
SETARA is an advocacy group focused on democracy and human rights.
Hendardi warned that the ongoing social intolerance in Indonesia is worsened by public policies that create space for discrimination. He pointed to the Joint Regulation of the Minister of Religious Affairs and the Minister of Home Affairs (Number 9/2006 and Number 8/2006) on the establishment of houses of worship, which requires support from 90 Muslim residents and 60 church members as part of the approval process.
“These resident support requirements and other administrative mechanisms are often used by intolerant groups to veto citizens’ constitutional rights,” he said, adding that such practices are unacceptable in a democratic rule-of-law state.
Hendardi urged the government to enforce laws decisively to guarantee every citizen’s rights.
On June 11 a similar demonstration was mounted against plans for construction of Java Christian Church in, Banyuanyar, Banjarsari District, Solo Municipal, Central Java province. Demonstrators claimed construction was an evil plan in a predominantly Muslim area and that they feared of proselytizing.
Indonesian society in recent years has adopted a more conservative Islamic character, and churches involved in evangelistic outreach are at risk of being targeted by Islamic extremist groups, according to Open Doors.
