11/26/2019 Indonesia (International Christian Concern) – The Church of Indonesia Bethel Church in Bukittinggi and suburb of Agam have been turned away by the manager of one of the Hotels in Bukittinggi to hold a Christmas celebration in December.

According to a report received by Covesia.com on November 13, the hotel initially stated that it was ready for the Church of Indonesia Bethel Church to rent the space but the hotel preparations committee canceled the contract and returned the payment.

In response to this, the head of the Inter-Community Study Center (PuSAKa) Darto Sudarto expressed his concern over the issue of empathy among religious people.

“How do these diverse communities share public space with people of different religions and beliefs, so that they can worship according to their respective religions and beliefs?” he told Covesia.com by phone on November 13.

According to Darto, based on his research for the past nine months, the church members did not really want to establish a church but only hoped to rent a place to celebrate certain events such as Christmas.

“The hotel says it is referring to the Bukittinggi City regulations in the Djufri era which states that hotels are reserved for tourists rather than places of worship. Since then there has been a ban,” Darto said.

He hopes the mayor of Bukittinggi can create a special letter for the hotel manager to allow the place to be used for celebrations like Christmas.

According to Darto, the Protestants in Bukittinggi are currently close to 2,000 people and around 1,400 for Catholics, yet Bukittinggi has only two churches – St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Sudirman and the Bukittinggi HKBP for protestants.

He also said that in Bukittinggi, there are seven protestant denominations, so they should expect to have seven churches. “Yet they don’t ask for it, they just want to be allowed to borrow a place for the event,” he added.

For interviews, please contact Olivia Miller, Communications Coordinator: [email protected].