Indonesia: Permit for Christian school withdrawn following pressure from Islamic groups

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Christian in school in South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, has been told its permit will be withdrawn following pressure applied on local officials by Muslims, including members of the banned Islamic Defenders Front (IDF), Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

The Gamaliel Christian School Foundation had complied with all steps necessary to receive a permit from the municipality of the town of Parepare South Sulawesi but was suddenly told earlier this month that the approval was being withdrawn, MSN reports.

The decision to withdraw permission for the school to open was made after an October 6 public protest which saw members of the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals, the Soreang Society Alliance, as well as of the banned IDF, marching in the streets against the school, MSN reports. Parepare’s representative council promised the protestors it would withdraw the school permit so as to avoid friction in the community.

In its report, MSN said a video of the protest showed demonstrators holding banners that read: “Rejecting the Construction of the Gamaliel Soreang Christian School,” among others. One speaker at the event is heard to say: “We are the most tolerant people – Muslims need no education on tolerance,” said one orator. “We live in a neighborhood with non-Muslims and provide food to each other; we never disturb other’s worship, but it is intolerance if you build a Christian school in a majority Muslim community.”

The deputy chairman of the Gamaliel Christian Education Foundation, Sinta (who goes by a single name), told MSN that her school had previously been granted the necessary permits for construction, in line with all relevant regulations and approved by authorities.

Christianity is legal under Indonesia’s constitution, but the Muslim-majority country ranks 33rd on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2023 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

 

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