Stop hate speech

The Jakarta Post   |  Tue, 08/25/2009 9:24 AM  |  Opinion

As we welcome the police’s decision to drop their plan to monitor religious sermons for radical content, we are still left with one unanswered and fundamental question: What to do with hate sermons? We certainly can’t ignore them.

Some of the hatred and violent teachings that have led to young people becoming involved in terrorist activities, including suicide bombings, originated from mosques, hence the plan to monitor sermons. Police are simply trying to enforce article 156 of the Criminal Code that stipulates that anyone delivering hate speeches can be jailed for up to four years.

This inevitably brings us to the question of the freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, and its limits, one of them being the law against hate speech. How do we enforce this law without violating people’s right to free speech?

Society certainly cannot remain silent in the face of the growing influence of violent ideologies that preach hatred and encourage people to attack others on the grounds of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual-orientation or economic class.

If there is one big lesson that we take from the devastating twin bomb attacks in two Jakarta hotels last month, it is that we as a nation have become too lenient in the face of such barbaric acts, and this has sent the wrong message to those engaged in hate speech and the spread of violent ideologies to continue on their radical path.

Instead of an outright condemnation, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono publicly claimed that he was being targeted by terrorists, while others tried to pin the blame on the deterioration of socio-economic conditions that make society a breeding ground for radical Islamic teachings and terrorism.
At the very least, police have been bold enough to claim that part of the problem can be sourced to mosques where violent ideologies and hatred are being freely discussed.

The idea of police vetting religious sermons however is as abhorrent as the violent messages they seek to prevent. During the Soeharto regime, many preachers were jailed for advocating hatred, not so much against other religions as against the government. The police then were nothing more than an oppressive tool used to sustain the violent regime.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with article 156 of the Criminal Code. Every nation – and especially one as racially, ethnically and religiously diverse as Indonesia –needs a law to deal with hate speeches. The article only became notorious because it was widely abused by Soeharto for more than 30 years.

Rather than relying on the police, this time around, members of the public should be encouraged to report hate speeches. This is part of their civic duty as much as their obligation to report on suspicious activities in their neighborhood. Let the court decide when free speech crosses the limit of tolerance and becomes hate speech.

Our best insurance against the spread of violent teaching and hatred is not the court, but our education system, and in a democracy, by using free speech to fight hate speech. Our society is mature and wise enough to tell what’s right and wrong.

Comments (5)  |   Post comment
A  |   A  |   A  |   Mail to a friend  |  Printer Friendly Version |  Digg it!  |  Add to Del.icio.us!  |  Add to Reddit!  |  Stumble it!   |  Share on facebook  

Andrew2410 — Mon, 08/31/2009 - 3:31pm

The key question is and always has been: "Am I, and my family living accoriding to the teachings of our religion?" Stop judging others. Stop bothering everyone else. The fact is, if others see people of faith living good moral lives and this life obviously gives us fulfillment and peace of heart, then they will want to follow. There is no need to bully, intimidate or threaten anyone. There is no need to wear a uniform for identification. Strong, loving family units, and the way we act towards our fellow human beings identify true people of faith. They will know by our LOVE. Not by our hate. Andrew Tangerang

David K. — Wed, 08/26/2009 - 8:10pm

If we ate rainbows and defecated happy thoughts the world would be a better place too. What exactly do these clerics and religious leaders have to say that they are so scared of being monitored? I for one would applaud increased scrutiny in mosques, pesantrens, and any religious schools to make sure that they are being taught normal islam not the psychotic terroist islam that is growing in Indonesia. It's amusing that people always keep talkinga bout the violent regime and oppression during Suharto's Era. At least in Suharto's era there was a sense of peace, and terrorism was non existant. Now with so called democracy and freedom of speech, Terrrorist and thier like minded sympathiser abuse thier freedoms to spread thier toxin amongst the people. Unfortunately our society is not mature or wise enough to tell what is right or wrong. We as a society (Indonesia) are not intelligently equipped to handle democracy, where you see people demonstrating every single day with no real results except for some catchy headlines on the morning paper, or people thinking that democracy and freedom means that mobs have a carte blanche to enforce thier rules and morality on an unsuspecting public. Harsher rules should be brought forth to combat hatred taught in radical islam and it's twin sister terrorism. Longer jail time that isn't in a public facility but i private facility with no outside communication. We as a people always utilize our Indonesian upbringing as a shield, always being to lenient on all these people, and it's high time we stop being nice as our upbringing has told us. These people are cockroaches that have infested our homes. Usually when cockroaches infest your home you destroy them and not only them their families and nests so the problem does not reoccur. I for one if I pass a mosque or hear someone talking always listen closely to what they say. If they start talking about the fall of Indonesian society and our moral values and the only thing that will help us is islam, I immediately report them to police but that has done nothing. I wish more was done against terrorists and thier radical islam friends.

Edo E. (not verified), Jakarta — Wed, 08/26/2009 - 6:02pm

You are wrong, the best insurance against the spread of violent teaching and hatred is not entirely the education system, already infiltrated by wahhabi clerics and teachers wearing the wahhabi jilbab. The best insurance against the hardliners is hurting them where they are most proud of: putting down the jilbab and returning to the traditional and already modest Indonesian way of wearing free hair, at important events even the now hated konde. The jilbab is only promoting segregation, false superiority, false modesty, fanatism and fear (on school girls when they see the fanatic teacher). It is also a flag of recognition for the radicals, to differentiate between them and the uncovered "halal" enemy. The idea of police vetting religious sermons is absolutely not abhorrent but necessary, as the unbelievable protests of the wahhabi clerics clearly showed.

Marge (not verified), Australia — Wed, 08/26/2009 - 11:39am

hear, hear...........

Algarve Property (not verified), Portugal — Tue, 08/25/2009 - 1:09pm

Bang on, 100%; education and freedom of speech are the only answers. I hope Indonesia enables this; the freedom of speech aspect does not look too good right now; education needs investment (but is it there?). Good luck, I mean it.

What's On

more
more
more