Christians in the Indonesian village of Caile, Ujungbulu District had their Sunday evening Christmas choir rehearsals stopped by a neighborhood association leader who said the choir needed permission from community leaders to practice. “It’s important that the choir practice should be reported to the local government,” the association head, Andi “Aples” Arman, told members of St. Yoseph Station Catholic church in a TikTok video. The village is made up of mainly Muslims, with Arman saying the church needed the permission to appease its Muslim neighbors. “First, I will tell the [Muslim] neighbors that there will be activities like this. If you ask permission, I can tell them there has been a report to the local government. If it is like this [without permission], I will say there is no permission.”

According to members of the church, the choir was practicing in a “multi-purpose building” that had originally been built for the church’s worship activities but had not been used due to Muslim opposition. “We have been holding services in a congregation member’s house far from the Muslim community. We do other church activities in this multipurpose building,” stated one parishioner. Arman, however, stated he had stopped the activities to protect the Christians. “I came to protect my Catholic friends. By having permission, I can ensure that other parties would not disturb their activities.” Another local Muslim leader, Ustaz Andi Satria, condemned the situation. “Singing practice for Christmas celebrations must be protected, not intimidated. Islam teaches tolerance as a blessing for all humans, not just for the Muslims,” he stated.

According to Indonesian law established by the Joint Decree of the Two Ministers, Chapter 1, Article 3, permits are only required to establish new houses of worship. The establishment of a new house in Indonesia is very difficult, with small churches needed to obtain 90 signatures of approval from congregation members and 60 from area households of different religions. Permits often run into numerous delays. The Indonesian Movement for All, an interfaith organization podcast, stated that choir activity should not fall under a permit requirement. “Choir practice needs no permit. People who prohibit this must be handled immediately,” said the group.

Open Doors, a Christian watchdog organization which rates countries on the level of persecution Christians experience, rates the persecution level against Christians in Indonesia as “high,” ranking Indonesia as 42 on its World Watch List. “The situation for Christians has been deteriorating in recent years, with Indonesian society increasingly influenced by conservative interpretations of Islam. Polls regularly show that especially young people hold conservative views, and by-laws on Islamic dress are becoming more common,” the group stated. “Most pressure for Christian converts takes the form of isolation, verbal abuse and ostracization. Only a small percentage of converts face physical violence for their Christian faith and they may be forced to relocate to another part of Indonesia. The pressure is also higher in places like West Java or Aceh, where radical Islamic groups exert a heavy influence on society and politics.”