Hard-Liners Attack Yogyakarta Church
Jakarta. A Christian group in Sleman district, Yogyakarta, has slammed the province's law enforcement for failing to prevent a mob from attacking their church on Sunday, in the second such incident in less than a week there.
Dozens of members of the Yogyakarta Islamic People's Forum (FUI Yogyakarta) barged through the doors of El Shaddai Pentacostal Church (GPdI El Shaddai) in Pangukan village early on Sunday morning, hell-bent on stopping the weekly religious service.
"The mob came and police asked us to stop the service," said Rev. Jonathan Soeharto of GPdI Kuta in Bali, who was delivering the sermon in Pangukan when the incident occurred. "We shortened the service and the congregation left."
Sleman Police proceeded to line up outside the church, promising to protect the place of worship from further threats and disturbances.
Yet several hours later a group of men garbed in white robes arrived and began attacking the building with stones and hammers, destroying its entrance, windows and doors.
"Dozens of police officers were there, but they did nothing to stop it. They only watched [the mob] destroying the church," said Jonathan, who is also head of Indonesia's Pentecostal Church Association (PGPI) in Bali.
The shortened morning service meant worshipers had already left when the violence started and no one was hurt in the assault. Still, the angry mob left a significant amount of destruction, pushing church officials to report the incident to the Yogyakarta Police on Monday.
Adi Sukaja, secretary of the GPdI synod, told the Jakarta Globe the Pentecostal church had been operating without a permit for more than 20 years, guiding a congregation of some 250 members through Sunday services.
Two decades went by with no signs of friction or disagreements erupting between the church and its non-Christian neighbors — until 2011, when a Molotov cocktail landed on the roof, the resulting blaze charring parts of the building. Witnesses reported seeing two figures on a motorcycle racing away, but police have yet to find the perpetrators.
During renovations the next year, church officials filed the necessary documents to obtain a valid permit, which only fueled the ire of the community's hard-line Islamic citizens who rejected the move.
"As it goes everywhere else, it's not easy to get a permit," Adi said.
"It [the church] was sealed off by the government [in 2012] after it received pressure from intolerant groups, but the church appealed and recently won the case, allowing us to reopen our doors. GKI Yasmin had a similar experience," he added, referring to the closing of a Bogor church whose permit was revoked by the city's mayor despite a Supreme Court ruling allowing religious services to continue.
The vandalism of GPdI El Shaddai occurred in the same week a Catholic prayer group was violently assaulted in the same district in Yogyakarta.
According to the Yogyakarta Anti-Violence Society (Makaryo), the province has seen a recent spike in hate crimes, despite the fact its governor, Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, received an award for his ability to maintain pluralism in the region.
The increasingly hostile string of attacks — and the unsolved nature of their cases — has raised concerns over whether the governor deserves the recognition.
Five separate incidences of religious intolerance were reported in the province in May alone, the first occurring at the start of the month when the head of Gunungkidul's Interfaith Forum was mobbed and beaten by members of the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI).
The attackers later claimed Aminuddin Aziz, also a Muslim, deserved the "punishment" for defending Christians in the media. During police questioning, three of the detainees threatened to kill Aminuddin.
The following week, FUI Yogyakarta — the same group allegedly responsible for the attack on GPdI El Shaddai — and FJI forcibly halted a Koran study group lead by a Shiite in the village of Sumberan.
The final week of May saw three disturbances, the first being the assault on the Catholic prayer group, during which six members of the congregation suffered injuries, including a child who was reportedly electrocuted.
Next came an FJI-led demonstration against the Javanese Christian Church (GKJ), prohibiting some 12,000 Christians from conducting its annual Easter celebration, despite the permit GKJ received from City Hall.
FJI, with the support of several other hard-line Islamic organizations, accused the church of carrying out a "hidden agenda" of converting Muslims to Christianity.
The month riddled with intolerance finally ended with the mob assault on GPdI El Shaddai on Sunday.
Benny Susanto, coordinator of Makaryo, told the Globe he planned to report Yogyakarta's governor as well as the district heads of Sleman, Bantul and Gunungkidul to the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) for the rising number of cases of religious intolerance.
"We want the Indonesian Interfaith Network to annul the pluralism award that was given to the governor," Benny said. "Regardless of the [Islamic] groups' motives or intentions, they do not allow others the freedom to worship the faith of their choice. The district heads have only encouraged the intolerance [by doing nothing]."
Benny pointed out that the sultan himself had never issued a statement denouncing violence against minorities.
"When we asked him about the cases, the governor merely replied he had texted the Yogyakarta Police chief regarding the matter. That's not a sufficient answer. We want him to issue a public statement ordering the police to target the problem at its root," he said.
The coordinator also lamented what he called the central government's role in Yogyakarta's rising intolerance.
"There's national link in these cases; law enforcement officials in charge of maintaining safety in regions where religious clashes are common don't take the matter seriously," Benny said. "These hard-line groups are growing stronger because of the lack of law enforcement."
Elga Sarapung, director of Interfidei, which advocates for religious tolerance, told the Globe that government officials at all levels needed to set an example of acceptance toward all faith.
"Some political figures act like members of intolerant groups, which hinders their ability to govern," he said.
Posted by: "Sunny" <ambon@tele2.se>
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