January 21st, 2008, in News, by Patung
Why there are so many attacks on churches in western Java.
Persecuted Churches Nationally
On 14th January members of the Himpunan Warga Gereja Indonesia (HAGAI), Indonesian Churchgoers Association, visited the offices of the National Human Rights Commission, (Komnas HAM) in Jakarta to complain about attacks against churches and Christian congregations around the country.
Pastor Alma Shepard Supit of HAGAI said:
We’re asking that Komnas make very clear its position on religious freedom, that preventing people from performing their religious obligations is a violation of human rights.
The pastor said that in 2007 there were 18 cases of churches being attacked, or forced to close, or vandalised.
Greater Jakarta
He also cited data from the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum that between September 1969 and March 2006 950 churches had been vandalised or burned down, while between March 2006 and August 2007 67 church congregations had suffered intimidation or disturbances from outsiders.
Presently Supit said dozens of churches in the greater Jakarta area found themselves in a “tense” situation.
Another pastor, Novi Suratinoyo, blamed the government for not enforcing the law, and the police for often standing by while church attacks took place.
Idfal Kasim of Komnas HAM said his group often received reports of this nature but regretted that their recommendations rarely carried any force with the authorities. [1]
Solo/Surakarta
In Central Java at Christmas 2007 Surakarta police chief Yotce Mende said that 85 out of the 500 churches in the city were considered by the police to be under threat of attack or had problems with local Muslim residents. [2]
Why West Java (& Solo)?
Indonesianist Sidney Jones wondered on 3rd January 2008 why West Java was the scene of so many anti-Christian disturbances (and not, presumably, East Java):
It is not clear why religious vigilantism has been such a problem in West Java.
And offered one possible explanation:
one theory is that aggressive Protestant evangelicalism there has made inroads in strongly Muslim communities, creating fears of “Christianization”.
However she noted that deviant Islamic communities such as Ahmadiyah often suffer a worse fate in West Java (and perhaps are not seen as proselytizing like the evangelicals). [3]
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