INDONESIA
Urgent Call to Pray & Fast for 21 Days – Sept.7-21

Undisclosed Source
2 September 2005

Background to Current Crisis and Call to Prayer

In recent months, Christians in Indonesia have faced a severe escalation of terrorism, intimidation and persecution. This escalation has a number of faces to it.

Firstly, through extreme pressure and threats against witnesses, the accused, the judges and the courts to ensure favorable verdicts, such as in the case against three ladies, Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun, running a Sunday School called “Happy Sunday” where yesterday, September 1, they were found guilty in the Indramayu Court, West Java, of “deceitful conduct, a series of lies and enticements to seduce children to change their religion against their wills”. Their crime was to run a Sunday School in an area infested with prostitution. The Sunday School began as part of the local church program for the Christian children.

One elderly Muslim women, a former prostitute whose daughter was also a prostitute, did not want her grandchildren to go down the same path, asked the three ladies to accept her grandchildren in their program. They accepted. These children told other children what a great time they were having. More Muslim children came. The three ladies told them they had to have family permission which they obtained.

Once the radical Islamic Council (MUI) heard about it they had the ladies put in prison.

Each court session they trucked in hundreds of young radicals, many who carried weapons into the court, even took over the court threatened witnesses, the accused and the judges. They even brought a coffin to the court and said that if they did not get a satisfactory verdict then they would take over, dispense Islamic justice and bury the women. They were duly convicted and have now begun a three year term of imprisonment. This is terrorism of the judicial process and a perversion of justice.

Secondly, over the last several years there have been over 150 churches destroyed or closed down in Jakarta and throughout the island of Java. In the last 2 months there have been 60 churches closed down, mainly in West Java. This escalation is part of the process to implement Islamic Shariah Law. In this recent escalation, samurai wielding Islamic radicals, accompanied by Government officials and Police, and with letters of authority from the Mayor and Chief of Police have broken into churches in the middle of services, demanded the pastor stop preaching and ordering him and the congregation out of the church and forcing the pastor to sign a statement that the building would no longer be used for Church services.

Even the Chief of Police for Metropolitan Jakarta has issued a statement on August 30, 2005, stating “Churches who do not have [letters of] permission should cease conducting Church services.” (Republika, National Daily Newspaper 31/8). This represents a dangerous threat against the more than 1500 Churches in the city of Jakarta, 80% of whom have been unable to gain permissions to build a church.

The basis for most of these closures is the SKB 1/69, i.e. a Combined Ministerial Edict No.1 in 1969 which was issued to regulate building permits for religious buildings (read Churches), use of homes for religious meetings, the control of propagation of religious beliefs (read Christian evangelism), and the flow of international funds to religious institutions (read Churches).

Ever since 1969 the Churches have increasingly experienced difficulties in getting permits to build churches or to get permits to hold church services and consequently most city churches do not have permits and are forced to conduct illegal services using buildings without a religious services permit. This is not just a West Java problem, this is a national problem facing every Church group throughout the country.

My congregation in Jakarta has 15,000 members and we conduct 80 services in 20 locations. During the week we conduct 1000 mid week services in homes. None of these services has a permit, nor are we able to get one. One of the problems is the nature of the Christian community, a minority community in the midst of a majority Muslim community. Our people do not all live in one suburb, they are scattered around the city in several suburbs. However, when we want to get a permit to build a Church for 5000 people, in which we could run four services on the Sunday to accommodate our members, the Government will say you only have 100 people who live in this neighborhood, why do you need a building for 5000?

Since it is a religious building there must be a permit from the Department of Religion which will be issued after the local residents sign an approval for the building of the Church, but before we have the chance to do that, the Muslim community has already been visited and been informed by Islamic leaders of our intentions and warned that if they approve our permit their safety cannot be guaranteed. This makes it almost impossible to gain a permit.

Sometimes, a permit gets through and is later revoked. As an example, Pastor Martino of the GPPS Church in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in 1997 gained a permit to relocate his church and to build a bigger building. He deliberately chose an uninhabited area marked for development. The number of residents were extremely small at the time and they happened to be Christians and Buddhists. However, after he began building the Church, truck loads of militant Muslims arrived at the building site forcing the building to cease. The Government then advised him to cease and not to build the church. Sadly, this is not an isolated event and is the reason why so many churches have had to hire hotel rooms, schools, restaurants, use houses etc to conduct church services – all of which are illegal and in violation of SKB 1/69.

Another clear example occurred just yesterday. The Sub-District Mayor of Ketapang Margahayu, Bandung, West Java, Mr. Harry Wahyono, has issued a letter based on the authority of the Mayor of the District of Bandung, closing down all Churches in his District in West Java that are not using “officially licensed” Church buildings and demanding that they immediately cease the conducting of Church services. Among them is the GSPDI Church pastored by Rev. Yohanes Sudibyo, a church which has been operating there for 23 years and strongly supported by the local community. This situation endangers 80% of the Churches throughout Indonesia.

An important point to understand

On one hand the Police, the Indonesian Council of Mullahs (MUI) and others are publicly declaring their opposition to the forced closures of churches claiming that this is a terrible violation and must be stopped. All this is for public and especially foreign consumption so that they can say that this is against the Indonesian way and not true Islam.

On the other hand, they make statements saying that after investigation no churches have been closed down, only illegal meetings without permits in private residences and that if they applied for the appropriate permits there would be no problem. Then of course the churches cannot get the permits. This happened in 2002 in Bekasi, Cikarang Baru and Kota Hijau, West Java. The churches were approached by the Islamic protestors (trucked in) and the Churches were threatened if they did not close down. After negotiations it was agreed to allow them to conduct services for the next three months while they gained the necessary permits. Not one church successfully gained a permit even though the Islamic leaders promised not to hinder them. At the end of three months the churches were closed down, sealed with Government letters authorized by the Mayor and signed by the Chief of Police on the 18th July 2002.

Furthermore, the Indonesian Council of Mullahs (MUI) and many other radical Islamic organizations (eg. MMI, FPI, LJ, Hizbullah etc) together with the Prosperous Peace Party (PKS) whose leader Nur Wahid is the Chairman of the Indonesian National Parliament (MPR) have called for the SKB to be elevated to the status of legislation. Currently it is a Ministerial Edict and can be revoked by a Presidential Edict.

In November 2004, Rev. Dr. Nathan Setiabudi, Chairman of the Indonesian Council of Churches, asked the President to revoke the SKB. After the meeting, at a Press Conference, Rev. Setiabudi announced that the President had agreed to revoke the SKB. There was a swift reaction from Islamic quarters with the Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, the Head of the National Parliament, Nur Wahid, MUI, and other Islamic organizations rejecting its revocation.

It should be understood that the SKB is only applied to non-Muslim religions as the Muslim community build multiple mosques in every residential community, while claiming that the churches being closed down were closed due to conducting illegal meetings in residential areas. Former President, Abdurrahman Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, has publicly stated that most mosques are built without permits and that Churches should be allowed to do so as well.

All of this adds up to suppression of minority religions by the majority religion and is a clear violation of the Charter of Human Rights in respect to freedom of religion, to which Indonesia is a signatory and should be held accountable.

Call to Prayer and Fasting

In response to this crisis the Church has decided on the following steps:

1. A Peace March on Saturday September 3 from the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout in Jalan Thamrin, Central Jakarta, to MONAS, the National Monument opposite the Presidential Palace. This march is a combined march of Christians with moderate Muslims marching to protest these violations against freedom of religion. The march will be led by former President, Abdurrahman Wahid, with other religious leaders like Magnis Suseno, Bambang Widjaya and many other national leaders marching about three kilometers and then conducting joint prayers against the current radical tyranny and to pray for the revocation of the SKB.
2. Plans for further meetings to request President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue an edict revoking SKB. Failure to achieve this goal will then result in taking the issue to the Constitutional Court to have the edict overthrown as being in violation of the Indonesian Constitution.
3. The National Church Leadership together with the National Prayer Network have called on all Christians throughout the country to join together in 21 days of prayer and fasting that SKB 1/69, anti-Christian laws and Provincial regulations which are contrary to the Pancasila (5 basic principles of the Indonesian philosophy) and contrary to the 1945 Constitution will be revoked as these are what are being used to close churches and persecute Christians. Furthermore, that the Government and the Police will be sincere, honest and courageous in stopping the violence and provide security for the Christian community to conduct their church services. The key verses that the churches are being asked to meditate on are 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Psalm 2:1-3.
   In a 21 day fast in Indonesia, Christians will fast from eating 2 meals a day. They will continue to drink water but will break the fast in the late afternoon or early evening and then fast for another 24 hours and do this for 21 days.

Call to the International Body of Christ

The Church in Indonesia does not stand alone. It is part of the international Body of Christ and we need your support at this time. We therefore ask you to spread this information as far and wide as possible and to ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to join with us in this time.

We also urge you to make this a special time of prayer for those in the Gulf States of the USA who are currently going through a terrible tragedy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that has devastated so many and that in the midst of chaos, the love of Christ will shine and that by His grace they will overcome.

Finally, we urge you to read the prophetic word of Isaiah 58. A true fast can break the yoke of oppression, it can help transform communities, restore justice, bring light, healing, restoration and the revelation of the glory of the Lord, for “the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”