08/10/2021 Indonesia (International Christian Concern) – Yasmin Church in Bogor, Indonesia, has been battling with local authorities to secure its building permit for the last fifteen years. The church building initially opened in 2010 but was quickly shut down when the local government invalidated its building permit.

Despite a ruling by the Indonesian Supreme Court in 2010 that upheld the validity of the church’s building permit, local authorities still refused to allow the church to reopen. Objections from Bogor’s majority Muslim community have been a significant obstacle for Yasmin Church and the primary reason it has not been allowed to reopen.

In May of this year, Bogor’s mayor offered Yasmin Church a building permit for a plot of land in a different part of the city than they were initially located in. The local government hoped that this offer would settle the 15-year legal dispute once and for all. However, Yasmin Church refused to settle for this different plot of land, citing religious discrimination. Members of the church are demanding that their original church building be allowed to reopen.

A spokesman for Yasmin Church, Bona Sigalingging, said that the local authorities are under orders from the 2010 Supreme Court rulings, which were backed by the Ombudsman, to allow the church to reopen. He said the congregation wanted to stay at the original location and that church members will sue the mayor for not obeying court directives.

On August 8^th, Bogor’s mayor presented the “new” permit along with a plot of land to Yasmin Church in a ceremony without any church members present. At the ceremony, the mayor stated that “this permit is a giant step towards ending the dispute and is a part of our struggle to celebrate diversity, respect human rights, and the right for all religions and faiths to worship freely.”

Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said that the mayor of Bogor showed good intentions by providing land and the permit.

“However, the fact remains he did not give GKI Yasmin what they really wanted because of pressure from intolerant groups,” he told UCA News.

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