TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Vigilantes top lists of religious intolerance
Incidents of religious intolerance are on the rise this year – and vigilantes are behind many of the episodes, according to two recently released reports
Change Size
I
ncidents of religious intolerance are on the rise this year – and vigilantes are behind many of the episodes, according to two recently released reports.
According to the Moderate Muslim Society’s (MMS) report, there were 81 cases of religious intolerance in 2010, up from 59 cases in 2009.
Sixty-three cases, or about 80 percent of the total, involved the attack or destruction of houses of worship across the nation.
A report released by the Wahid Institute on Tuesday recorded 133 challenges to religious freedom in 13 provinces across the nation. More than 80 percent of those cases were perpetrated by vigilantes from mass organizations, organized masses or individuals, according to the report.
The Islam Defenders Front (FPI) were near the top of both reports’ lists of perpetrators.
The Wahid Institute and the MMS reported that West Java was the province with the most cases of religious intolerance.
The MMS said 49 cases of religious intolerance, 61 percent of the total, occurred in West Java in 2010, up from 13 cases in 2009.
Both reports said Ahmadiyah congregations and Christians comprised the majority of victims.
In the latest incident of intolerance, a group calling itself the Reformist Islamic Movement barged into a religious service of the HKBP Bethania church in Bandung on Dec. 12, forcing the congregation to disperse.
JP/Irma
The MMS and other NGOs had submitted their previous reports to the government, but the figures for religious intolerance had not changed much, according to MMS.
“Our findings show that such events have taken place because the government, which should be upholding the Constitution in guaranteeing its citizens’ most basic rights, has been reluctant and even an actor in incidents of intolerance,” MMS chairman Zuhairi Misrawi said.
According to the MMS’ report, which was compiled from media reports, NGO research and government information, about 30 percent of the cases involved local administrations and regional law enforcement agencies.
Unknown assailants and hard-line mass organizations were allegedly responsible for 69 percent of the incidents recorded by the MMS.
Under the current government, which he characterized as cowardly, hardliners had leeway to spread hatred in several regions, Zuhairi said.
Hatred was often spread through sermons at mosques, Zuhairi said: 80 percent of the sermons reviewed by the report taught intolerance of other religions.
Catholic priest the Rev. Benny Susetyo of the human rights watchdog Setara Institute said a similar pattern of escalation had also been noted by researchers at Setara and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.
A 30 percent increase was a signal that law enforcement officials were not doing their jobs as they let hard-line groups act without fear of the legal consequences, Benny said.
Under such conditions, he added, congregations were forced to pay ever-higher fees to street thugs for protection.
Benny said the government’s proposed religious harmony bill would carry new problems as it could be manipulated to bring up the issue of majority versus minority.
Benny and Zuhairi opposed the idea that a majority should have more privileges than the minority for the sake of harmony. (rch)
