TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) on Wednesday urged President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to pay serious attention to religious intolerance in a number of regions. PGI spokesperson Jeirry Sumampouw lamented the President's remarks in opening a national meeting with regional heads on January 17th which was deemed ineffective as religiously-motivated discrimination continue to occur.

"Rakornas (national meeting) January 17 has shown to be ineffective in the field. This is proven by the recent cases that banned certain religious worships from taking place, whether it came from local governments or mass organizations," Jeirry said in a written statement on Wednesday, February 8.

According to PGI’s records, there are at least five incidents regarding religious intolerance after the President made his statement intended to prevent such cases from emerging.

Three of the recent cases involve Ahmadiyah congregates that took place on January 26. At that time, the Forkopimda of Sintang Regency in West Kalimantan demanded that the local district government issue a circular to curb Ahmadiyah activities and seal the mosque under the pretext of maintaining peace.

PGI said another act of religious intolerance happened on February 2 when the construction of an Ahmadiyah mosque was forcefully stopped and sealed off from its own congregates in the region of Parakansalak.

The next two cases of intolerance involved the Congregation of the Pentecostal Church in Indonesia or GPdI Metland in Cileungsi Bogor and the Indonesian Evangelical Christian Church or GKIN in Bandar Lampung.

MUHAMMAD FARREL FAUZAN

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