A Christian community in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, is preparing to hold Christmas Mass on the street as sectarian attacks keep them locked out of their church.
The Filadelfia Batak Christian Protestant Church has since 2009 held Sunday services under the blazing sun as Muslim hardliners and community members physically block them from their property.
The weekly intimidation in Bekasi, on the capital’s outskirts, has often erupted in violence — in May a mob of about 300 people hurled bags of urine, rotten eggs and stones at worshipers marking the ascension of Christ.
Photo: AFP
Such cases of religious intolerance are on the rise in Indonesia, according to Jakarta-based civil rights group Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, which recently released a study recording 308 incidents in the first half of this year against religious minorities.
Incidents, including attacks and forced closure of places of worship, have risen steadily since 2009, when 491 cases were reported, rising to 502 in 2010 and 543 last year, the group said.
The year has been particularly rough for Christians, who have seen dozens of churches sealed, particularly in the Islamic stronghold of Aceh Province, where partial Islamic Shariah law is enforced.
“Every Sunday I see people in my congregation cry. But we aren’t scared — the ones who should be afraid are the intolerant, including the government and the police,” church leader Reverend Palti Panjaitan told reporters. “Indonesia is supposed to have a secular government. This is not an Islamic country, so just like Muslims have the right to pray in their mosque, we too have the right to pray in our church.”
Panjaitan said that his congregation would march to their church on Christmas day, even though police had warned them to stay away, worried another protest would end in violence.
If they are barred from entering, they will set up as usual on the street, he added.
Religious minorities and rights groups have criticized the Indonesian government for inaction on sectarian attacks, calling for legal protection and a revision of what they say is discriminatory law.
Under a 2006 ministerial decree, houses of worship must have the approval of the heads of at least 60 households of other religions, and much of the authority rests with the Interfaith Harmony Forum, perceived as favoring mainstream Islam.
However, according to the Filadelfia church leaders, their proposal had garnered enough support from the community, which helped them win a Supreme Court challenge to the legality of their church.
On a recent Sunday, members of the church joined other Christians in prayers outside the presidential palace in Jakarta and delivered to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sacks of 7,000 Christmas cards from supporters.
Most cards had come from the Bekasi community, and one sack was full of cards from as far as the Netherlands.
“Sir, do you want to go to heaven? Free all people who believe in God and want to worship in peace,” one of the cards for the president read.
“Mr. President, let’s show our love and give a gift of freedom on this holy day of Christmas,” another supporter wrote in English.
However, those against the church say they were angered that they were not consulted before the land was purchased and that they disapproved of Christian activities in their neighborhood.
“We’re not saying the Christians can’t pray. They can, but not here,” said Aseng Sobari, who regularly takes part in the protests.
The Filadelfia church was established in 2000 by a community of Bataks, a mostly Christian ethnic group hailing from northern Sumatra.
Their prayer sessions held in members’ homes were constantly shut down by the district government, prompting the congregation to buy a building, with plans to use it for worship before constructing a complete church in the future.
The congregation has faced opposition since 2007 when they bought land for their place for worship.
Dec. 25 has since become not only a day to mark the birth of Christ, but also a day to remember when their troubles began — the first time they were stopped from entering their church was on Christmas day in 2009.
Prayers have been held on the street ever since.
“My three children often come to the prayer services, and they too have had stones and urine thrown at them. We are tired of this and hope the president and other leaders take action,” church member Binarsen Sinaga said. “Indonesia is supposed to be a free country, but it doesn’t feel that way, especially at Christmas.”
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion