Indonesia Church Building in Bogor Re-Opens – for a Day
JAKARTA, Indonesia (Compass Direct News) – The Bogor city government in West Java re-sealed the Gereja Kristen Indonesia (GKI) Yasmin Church on Aug. 28, one day after security police had removed the seal and lock.
Under cover of darkness, Bogor security police were ordered to secretly re-seal the church building at 11 p.m. the night before it was to be used for worship services.
Jayadi Damanik, a member of the GKI Yasmin legal team, said security police had removed the lock and seal after church talks with the district officer, the Bogor police chief, the head of the security police and citizens who live near the church. In those talks all parties agreed that there was no reason to question the construction and presence of the GKI Yasmin Church, he said.
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The district officer and the Bogor police chief told church leaders that the original sealing of the church on April 11 was the unwarranted result of political pressure, he said.
After re-opening the church on Aug. 27, authorities placed a notice that read, "Because this Gereja Kristen Indonesia building has satisfied all of the requirements, it has a building permit, No. 645.8-372 Year 2006, and has been strengthened by the force of law according to the decision handed down by the Bandung State Court Number 41/G/2008/PTUN-BDG, which rescinded the Bogor City Government decree Number 503/208-DKTP dated Feb. 14 freezing the permit."
But on Aug. 28 at about 4 a.m., unknown persons locked the gate of the GKI Yasmin fence and placed a banner on it that read, "Because this building is continuing to be processed under the law, it cannot be used."
At 11 a.m. that day, the church took off the lock and removed the banner, but late that night security police resealed it with a new notice.
Besides sealing the building under cover of darkness, Damanik said, there was no formal notice and no church witnesses.
"Why did they do this at night, like thieves?" Damanik said. "Because of this, we do not accept the seal as legal."
He added that the State Court had found the April 11 sealing was illegal.
After the resealing, the GKI legal team went to the office of the security police to ask about it. Yan Yan, head of the security police, said that his superiors, the Bogor municipal government, and the influential Bogor politicians had pressured him to re-seal it. He said his bosses had scolded him for taking off the seal on Aug. 27.
"I am astounded," Damanik said. "Why should a security police officer who takes off a seal based on a legal decision be reprimanded rather than appreciated?"
Damanik said he appreciated the heart of the security chief, who understood that there was no reason for the Bogor government to seal the church on April 11.
"I am proud that Mr. Yan did the right thing and took off the seal, even though it was just for one day," he said. "He did this because he understood the truth."
As a result of this incident, Damanik said he hopes that the political elites will repent and carry out the court's order.
GKI Yasmin elder Thomas Wadu Dara said the church would protest the resealing.
"After this incident, we are going to write to the Indonesian president and the Parliament," Wadu Dara said.
He said he hoped that the congregation would continue to be patient in meeting the challenges and not give up in their struggle for the truth.
"We are going to continue worshipping on Sunday at 8 o'clock," he said.
Since April 11, the GKI Yasmin congregation has been allowed to worship only once every two weeks on the shoulder of the road bordering fence in front of the church building that the Bogor government sealed.
