Political, religious and security authorities coupled with mass organizations are the parties behind prolonged problems surrounding church building controversies, a research concluded.
A research by Paramadina Foundation and Jogjakarta-based Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies reported that 12 of 13 churches in Jakarta and its greater area that the centers surveyed at random, faced problems during the construction process when dealing with these parties.
It discovered further that the inconsistency of political and religious authorities, a spiraling bureaucracy and the radicalism movement led to legal uncertainty on the church construction issue.
Nathanael G. Sumaktoyo, a researcher, told a discussion on the controversy of churches in Greater Jakarta on Tuesday that only one surveyed church, the St. Aloysius Gonzaga in East Jakarta, did not have a problem during its establishment, “because of its close relationship with the local residents who are mostly Muslims”.
The Catholic church was built in 1962 on land that is owned by the Army.
Nathanael said it showed that strong relations with local residents and other parties was one factor in solving the problem.
The study, conducted from March 2010 to March 2011, divided the churches into three different categories: Those that once encountered tension, churches that operated peacefully during their first years but later were confronted and those that faced prolonged problems.
“GKP Seroja church in Bekasi, for instance, faced a confrontation in 2006 from residents because it became the source of a traffic problem,” he said, adding that the problem was solved after it was moved to a different location with the support from the Bekasi deputy mayor.
Another church surveyed was the GKJ Nehemia church in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, which was required to move several times and then had to wait for 13 years before a permit was granted.
The church that continues to encounter challenges is St. Yohanes Maria Vianney in Cilangkap, East Jakarta. Its permit was denied due to bureaucracy challenges in the local administration and was confronted by mass organizations around the church.
In Bogor, the administration revoked GKI Yasmin church’s building permit citing complaints from residents who claimed the church was a hub for proselytizing in Jakarta.
The Supreme Court overturned the administration’s request to shut down the church, but the congregation remains unable to enter its church.
Sidney Jones, senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, said the central government should play a greater role in religious issues.
“Religious issues are the state’s responsibility, so all problems should involve the government,” she said.
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Pluralism News
The Indonesian team of the Pluralism Knowledge Programme recently discussed its concept of civic pluralism with experts from academia, civil society, government and media. The Jakarta Post published the following article.
The rise of religion in public space not a problem: Experts
The rise of religion in the public space across the country should not be seen as a threat as long as the government manages to prevent friction, experts say.
“All citizens must realize that the rise of religion in public spaces should not be seen as an effort to spread its normative teachings and doctrines,” Zainal Abidin Bagir, Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies director at the Gadjah Mada University, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Speaking at a seminar on pluralism and the politics of diversity in Jakarta, Zainal said the rise of religion was a natural outcome resulting from the great diversity of the nation and may contribute toward the establishment of civic pluralism.
University of Indonesia sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola said the rising religiosity among the people was inevitable in the Reform era after decades of what he said “forced harmony” during Soeharto’s repressive 32-year rule.
“The public was not allowed to debate the issues of ethnicity, religion, race and inter-group relations during the Soeharto years,” Thamrin said.
Apart from its label as one the most corrupt nations in Asia, Indonesia is ranked the most religious country in the world. A recent Reuters poll ranked Indonesia, before Brazil and Turkey, as the country with the highest number of people believing in God.
The country has also seen rising intolerance and even violence committed in the name of religion. This has sparked concern whether a religious revival is hampering the country’s unity and diversity.
Both Zainal and Thamrin said that friction might occur when the diverse identities of different religions meet in public spaces. Zainal cited demand for special treatment for certain groups based on their beliefs and demand for limitations to the so-called “deviant” minority groups as well as rivalries between religious symbols to secure positions in public offices as examples.
“As a democracy, we have to respect those demands. But we must also define clear boundaries in which those demands may still be accommodated so that it does not contradict the equal-opportunity principle,” he added.
Zainal said the public had plenty of room to accommodate religion. “However, we must establish an effective pluralism management to maintain civility.”
Good pluralism management, Zainal said, comprised three elements: Recognition, representation and redistribution.
Recognition deals with the extent the society, the state and the constitution recognize and respect diversity.
Representation deals with the accommodation of differing ideas — in the form of political parties, NGOs, state religious institutions and House of Representatives participation — in both formal and informal debates. “The issue here is how to find the right format of representation,” Zainal said. “Many Indonesian Muslims, for example, are of the opinion that the Indonesia Ulema Council does not accommodate their views and ideas.”
While redistribution deals with the capability of the government to spread the nation’s wealth of resources equally to all citizens regardless of religion and ethnicity, he said.
He called on the government to guarantee the availability of the room for religion in public spaces and recognize the diversity in its citizens.
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The conference served as a forum to disseminate the results of the Pluralism Knowledge Program (PKP), a joint effort between academic organizations – in Indonesia headed by the CRCS program – and civil society groups. Kapal Perempuan, a non-profit organization, organized the event in cooperation with CRCS. This Conference held in Jakarta on April 27th, 2011.
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“The problems surrounding the establishment of churches are more closely related to economic issues than ideological ones. Similarly, in the resolution of these issues, this knowledge can be used as a path towards peace” stated Nathanael, one of the members of the research team partnered with CRCS, in Jakarta at the PGI building on Tuesday, April 26th 2011.
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Public Lecture of Robert W. Hefner: “Rethinking Democracy and Pluralism in Islam: New Light on an Old Debate”. As the third series of Public Lecture under Pluralism Knowledge Program activities, on 10 August 2010 CRCS invited Robert W. Hefner to give lecture on ““Rethinking Democracy and Pluralism in Islam: New Light on an Old Debate.” Bob Hefner is Professor of Anthropology and Associate Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University.
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The second series of Public Lecture of Pluralism Knowledge Program activities was a lecture by Dr. Amina Wadud on “Gender and Pluralism” on August 3rd 2010. In this lecture, she problematized the term pluralism.
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- Abstract Of Dr. Amina Wadud’s Papers
