A 2006 housing ruling – the Joint Ministerial Decree on Religious Building Permits – states that religious groups must get approval from their local community, by way of signatures, to build a ‘house of worship’.
It says there must be 60 signatures from households of a different faith and a list of 90 potential members, as well approval from higher district authorities.
However, Christians say they cannot get enough signatures from Muslims in their communities, who make up 79 per cent of the nation, and that churches are therefore not getting built.
According to religious freedom charity Open Doors, a Baptist church on the island of Java had building work stopped in August because their building permit – granted in 1998 – had expired.
Government offices also broke up a church service in August in Riau, on the island of Sumatra where a Pentecostal congregation was worshipping in the yard of their church because the building had been sealed off by the authorities citing the lack of a building permit.
The church’s pastor, Ganda Damianus Sinaga, has applied for a permit but is finding it difficult to get one issued.
A Pentecostal church in Yogyakarta, also on Java, had applied for and obtained a permit but local authorities revoked it because the church failed to meet the requirement of using its building ‘frequently’.
Before the decision, threats had been made to…
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