Unidentified Vandals Damage Indonesian Church

ICC Note: Discrimination and outright violence towards Christians in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country, seems to be rising rapidly. The clearest example of this can be seen in the pressure many churches are facing to shut down or relocate, especially on the island of West Java. The local government typically works with or caves to pressure from radical Islamic groups by failing to issue building permits for churches, sealing buildings that lack a permit, and allowing radical groups to protest and even attack Christian congregations as they attempt to meet outside their sealed buildings. ICC is monitoring the situation closely. 
03/23/2013 Indonesia (Jakarta Globe) – An Advent church in West Java’s city of Tasikmalaya was vandalized by an unknown group early on Friday morning, one day after another church in the same province was demolished by the Bekasi government.
Police said that vandals damaged the church walls, gate and construction materials, which were intended to be used during the church’s renovation.
While the church in Bekasi had no building permit, the Advent church had obtained the proper permit from the Tasikmalaya government. The permit was issued on September 2012 and the church started construction in January.
“It was an old building that being renovated,” Nanang, a church member, told Tempo newspaper.
Head of Tasikmalaya’s political affairs agency Nuryadi confirmed that the government had issued a permit to renovate the building.
Dozens of Islamic ulema in Tasikmalaya opposed the reconstruction, saying that none of the residents living near the church were Christian.
“Almost 50 ulema that I know did not want a church to be built in an area that’s 100 percent populated by Muslims,” Islamic leader Ijad Nurjaman said.
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