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As President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stressed on Friday that the nation should safeguard its unity through the recognition of diversity, a West Java mayor attempted to settle the religious strife in his city.

Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Mohammad, on instructions from West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, on Friday held separate meetings with Islamic groups and representatives of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) in Pondok Timur, in a bid to seek a solution to an ongoing dispute that has seen the church’s building sealed off and members beaten when they tried to pray outdoors.

“During Ramadan, we want both parties to cool down” Mochtar said. “I hope everyone can stay calm and be at peace.”

Yudhoyono this week ordered local regional leaders to work to prevent such conflicts in their jurisdictions.

Speaking with veterans at the State Palace on Friday, Yudhoyono stressed that the nation should continue to uphold the 1945 Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion: the state ideology of Pancasila that provides equal footing for state-recognized faiths; the state motto, “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika,” which means unity through diversity; and the unitary principle of the republic.

“We have the mission to defend and promote those four fundamental principles,” Yudhoyono said, according to Antara News.

Mochtar first met with Muslim groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), the Islamic People’s Forum (FUI) and the Islamic Proselytizing Council (DDI) at Bekasi’s Grand Mosque after Friday prayers, and later hosted church representatives at his office.

Bekasi FPI member Budi Santoso said after the meeting that the HKBP congregation was not to hold any religious activities at the church in Pondok Timur Indah until it had obtained all necessary government permits.

“They don’t have a permit. They need to do what the regulation requires,” he said, referring to government requirement for a permit for houses of worship.

In the past weeks, the FPI and the other hard-line organizations have harassed members of the HKBP, culminating with beating of church members as they tried to hold a Sunday service on a vacant field in Ciketing, Bekasi, last week.

The municipal authorities had sealed the church building on the grounds that it did not have a permit. HKBP leaders say they filed an application in 2008 but have received no answer.

Mochtar offered the congregation the use of a vacant building belonging to the city for its religious activities until it obtained the permit.

But Sahara Panggabean, one of attorneys from the Religious Freedom Defenders Team, which represents the congregation, said the HKBP declined the offer.

“We are Indonesians who have our rights protected by the Constitution and we want to hold our religious activities,” he said, adding that the congregation would much rather use its own church in Pondok Timur Indah.

Mochtar asked the congregation to speedily reapply for a permit for their church, “so that I can coordinate with the local urban ward and neighborhood units. They will be informed that on Sunday the congregation will hold its service there.”

Meanwhile, the congregation said it planned to hold a service in Bekasi on Sunday and then another at the National Monument square facing the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

Other HKBP congregations that have faced similar problems have pledged to attend the event at Monas.