Faith remains a source of discrimination in RI

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 08/03/2007 12:29 PM

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government continues to allow to exist regulations and ordinances based on religion which discriminate against other faiths and tend to support a regional government's own political interests, despite the 1945 Constitution, said freedom of faith activists Thursday.

The activists attended a discussion organized by the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP) and said also Indonesia's police were half-hearted in their actions to combat violence against minority faith groups.

All central government regulations and local government ordinances should be made and executed in accordance with the 1945 Constitution, which explicitly guarantees freedom of faith for all Indonesians.

But many regulations and ordinances made after local autonomy was introduced stipulate the recognition of six faiths only -- Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, with around 80 percent of its 230 million citizens embracing Islam.

The Law on Civil Administration recognizes only the six faiths and deprives other believers of the same basic citizen's rights.

The circulars (internal memos) from the Religious Affairs Minister and Home Affairs Minister on public order and religious services have seen obstacles arise for minority religious groups that want to build places of worship.

In the past two years, several Muslim groups have forced-close houses used by Christians for worship and religious services.

The circulars require a proposed house of worship to receive approval from at least 60 surrounding households.

Many ordinances introduced after the implementation of local governments were influenced by religion -- particularly sharia.

But these ordinances have remained legal because the government did not revoke them.

And this remains the state of affairs, despite regulations made based on religion remain outside the authority of local administrations, according to the 2004 Law on Local Administration.

""Religion is an issue easily used by politicians to sway and muster voters -- particularly in a society where a certain religion is the majority,"" said law expert Maria Farida Indrati from University of Indonesia.

Many political parties use religion as their ideology, including the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Christianity-based Prosperous Peaceful Party (PDS) -- and this alone shows how political support can be garnered.

Maria said the Home Affairs Ministry had refused to deal with such ordinances and had left it for the President to decide if revocation was required.

""The ministry cancels other illegal ordinances on tax or custom, but on religion they won't,"" Maria said.

""These ordinances become legal if the President doesn't cancel them within 60 days of their enactment.""

Hamid Basyaib from the Liberal Islamic Network (JIL) said the law simply did not exist for minority groups.

And he said the police were reluctant to take action against majority groups who harassed minority groups.

Hamid referred to the Ahmadiyah followers who were forced to leave their hometowns by ""mainstream"" Muslims because they felt Ahmadiyah teachings were astray.

Siti Musdah Mulia from ICRP said freedom of faith was continuously threatened in amendments suggested for the Criminal Code, where articles on blasphemy have been extended.

""These articles glorify God, the prophets and the teachings,"" Siti said.

""But in the end, (these articles) see the people, especially the minorities ... unable to express their belief.

""I fear that, if passed, (these articles) will trigger more horizontal conflicts.""

Siti said the Criminal Code should regulate actions to ensure the freedom to express one's faith is protected and that public order is maintained. She said the code should not encroach on people's private matters.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.