“You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you”
Local officials in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province have decided to withdraw their permission to build a Christian school under pressure from Islamic protesters, Morningstar News recently reported. Indonesia’s parliament of representatives of Parrepare region granted building permits to the Gamaliel Christian School Foundation. However, after the October 6 protests by Muslims, including Muslim extremists, the decision was made to withdraw the building permit.
Members of the Front Pembela Islam (FPI) have been protesting since December 2020, along with hundreds of local residents, Muslim leaders, and members of the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association, and Parepare’s representative council has pledged to withdraw permission to build a Christian school, saying it could potentially cause friction.
They said, “We are the most generous people. Muslims do not need an education on tolerance. “We never interfere with other people’s worship, but if we set up Christian schools in the majority of Muslim communities, that is unacceptable.” Hundreds of residents gathered at a mosque in Parepare’s Sorang Pemai district on September 30 and signed a statement against the construction of the school.
According to BNN, the construction of the Gamaliel Christian School was legally approved. Sinta, vice president of the Gamaliel Christian School Foundation, said that the school obtained the necessary permits for construction per all relevant regulations and received approval from the authorities, adding that the cancellation of the building permit would “the school foundation would not attempt to build a school without legal permission from the government.”
“We carried out all legal procedures before construction,” she said in an interview with local media on October 7, explaining that the building permit process was not as problematic as the residents claimed.
Bonar Tigor, vice president of the Setara Institute, which advocates democracy and human rights in Indonesia, especially religious freedom, told Morningstar that officials are accepting the demands of bigoted groups to win public support in local political positions and elections and that they are deliberately ignoring even if they think it violates the Constitution.
Indonesia ranked 33rd in the 2023 Christian Persecution Countries Rankings (WWL) by the Open Door Mission. According to the WWL report, Indonesia adopts a conservative Islamic nature, so churches that engage in evangelical activities are at risk of being targeted by Islamic extremist groups (Source: Gospel Guidance Newspaper Synopsis).
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:19)
God, we pray that the Gamaliel Christian School Foundation, which serves the next generation, which will be Indonesia’s hope, will be more solidly established as the Lord’s without being daunted by the government’s persecution. May You destroy Satan’s scheme behind the authorities blocking Christian education while ignoring legal procedures and blocking students from even listening to the gospel. In addition, let the next generation of Indonesia be educated with the word of life so that they may belong to God and stand up as a path of blessing to save the world.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
