Aceh Shuts Down Buddhist Temples and Churches

The Jakarta Globe, October 22, 2012


Authorities have closed nine churches and six Buddhist temples in Banda Aceh in the last week, following mounting pressure from local Islamist groups, activists and church officials said on Sunday.

Theophilus Bela, chairman of Jakarta Christian Communication Forum, said that the churches’ priests were forced to sign a statement to close their churches. Officials from the province that applies Shariah law supposedly made the demands in a meeting that was attended by several Islamic organizations, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

“It’s a blatant act of intolerance,” Theophilus said.

The churches include the Indonesian Bethel Church (GBI), the Pantekosta Church and the Indonesia Christian Church.

Nico Tarigan, a priest and head of GBI church, acknowledged that the permit needed for the church to remain open had not been issued from the mayor’s office, even though the paperwork for the permit had been submitted a long time ago.

“We admit we have not had the permit,” he said by telephone. “But they can’t just close down our church. We have 80 members that don’t know where to pray.”

Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal, Banda Aceh deputy mayor, said that the nine churches and six temples have violated the city’s regulation, and should be closed down.

“The congregation members can join churches that have secured permits,” he said. “As a province that applies Islamist law, Aceh has a special law on this issue.”

He also called on Aceh’s Christians to respect the law.

However, Nico said that other churches were not necessarily open to members from other congregations.

“We hope there is a better solution from the Aceh government,” Nico said. “We have no motive to compete with other religions or ruin Islamic teaching. We have been here for eight years. They can ask local officials if we have done damage to Islamic teaching.”

“The FPI will continue to monitor these illegal churches and temples so that they don’t resume their activities,” said FPI chairman Yusuf Al-Qardhawy.

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Tue, October 23 2012,


Aceh’s Christians are reportedly living in fear following the closure of nine churches in Banda Aceh over the past week.

Nico Tarigan, a priest at the Indonesia Bethel Church (GBI) Penauyong, Banda Aceh, said he was afraid to hold mass because his side had signed an agreement with the Banda Aceh administration not to hold any religious activities because they had no permit to build a church.

“We have to close down our church because the administration said that it violated city regulations. If we remained open, the officials said they could not guarantee our safety. Since we didn’t want to get hurt, we halfheartedly signed the agreement,” Nico said as quoted by kompas.com.

“Besides, I have received threats through texted messages from people who said they would attack us if we continued to hold regular mass,” he added.

Nico said that his church was attacked on June 17. “Hundreds of people came here at around 10:30 a.m. We didn’t want this to ever happen again. That’s why we decided to sign the agreement,” he explained.

Nico said that he used the building for worship and prayer meetings.

“Even though we pray in a building, not in a church, we should be protected under the Constitution.

The Banda Aceh administration has closed nine churches and five Buddhist temples across the city, with priests being reportedly forced to sign agreements stating they would close their churches following mounting pressure from local Islamists.

The congregations of the nine churches were advised to attend churches that had building permits, such as the Catholic Church, Western Indonesia Protestant Churches (GPIB) or Filadelfia Batak Protestant Churches (HKBP).

Veryanto Sitohang of the Alliance of a United North Sumatra said that such an agreement between the administration and church managements had certainly limited the rights of Indonesian people to worship according to their faith.

“Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution clearly guarantees the freedom of Indonesians to worship,” said Veryanto.

The closure of churches in Aceh has been going on for some time, which has raised concerns over growing intolerance that could lead to community conflicts.

Previously in April this year, acting Aceh Singkil Regent Razali AR ordered the closure of 20 churches in a letter signed April 30, which ordered members of the congregations to tear down the churches themselves by June 8 at the latest.