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popular quote says silence is golden. But, this quote is never a single truth. Silence oftentimes could backfire as with the case of violence. By being silent, violence could reproduce violence, and this self-repeating process will create a vicious circle. It is this destructive consequence of silence that really matters so we need a lot more voices against it.

Let us look at several cases of violations against freedom of religious expression, violations against religious sectarian groups in particular, that have recently taken place in Indonesia. This kind of conflict plagued our country long before the fall of the Soeharto regime, and the violations have only increased since reform (Setara, 2012).

The 2011 Cikeusik tragedy is the case in question. Attacks on the Ahmadiyah followers by the majority Muslim population that resulted in three people killed from the Ahmadiyah group. Surprisingly, the suspects were only sentenced three to six months in jail. Even more surprisingly, only few people staged a protest against the killing and the legal decision.

The 2012 Sampang tragedy is another relevant case to mention. One Syiah member died following the latest attack by the Sunni majority. The incident left many people wounded, 48 houses were burned down, and more than 200 people took refuge.

Tajul Muluk (Syiah leader) was found guilty for which he and his community have always been the target in the first place. Of four years of imprisonment, he got the two-year sentence after losing a legal battle in the higher court. On the contrary, Rois (Tajul'€™s brother who used to be a Syiah follower) allegedly provoked the attack in question and was later set free. As part of expression of solidarity, protests were immediately voiced but unfortunately only by the few.

Recently, the local government has relocated Syiah refugees to Puspo Argo low-cost apartments, Sidoarjo, East Java, in the hope of resolution to the conflict once and for all. However, doubts over the result of the decision remain. By relocation, rival parties will actually never have a chance to reconcile differences which are widely believed to be the cause of the main hardships between them for years.

What is more, relocation also makes life even harder for the people of Syiah as they are uprooted from the place where they have been emotionally attached to, and at the same time, they are forced to live in a new place where everything there is totally strange for them.

Another similar tragedy that deserves to be discussed, the people of Ahmadi in Lombok Barat, who fled their homes after the violent attack, have been living in limbo in a refugee camp at Wisma Transito, in Mataram since 2006. Nothing serious has ever been done by the local government to ensure that their basic needs are truly met, let alone restoring broken relations between the two communities.

Maintaining survival, some of them have already left the camp and moved to another place for a better life while some others (around 30 households) are still living in the camp and waiting for a promise from the government that security and freedom of expression '€” the very last things they asked for '€” will be guaranteed.

The most recent case is the Puger incident which broke out this month in Jember, East Java. The Darus Solihin Islamic Boarding School, known for its traditional practices of Islam but accused of practicing Syiah, was attacked by angry people, and one person was killed by an unknown man during the incident. Police officers have been sent to the field, but the situation is not yet back to normal.

All these unpleasant stories and other similar sets of events that end up with a question: While a small number of people voiced the protests, where were the rest? The voice is strangely unheard in such a populated country with moderate Muslims dominating the population in Indonesia.

As we all know, every time we convince international audiences '€” indeed '€œpaid off'€ by the World Statesman Award received by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in May 2013, our message is clear: Indonesian brand of Islam is moderate and tolerant. Unfortunately, the message circulates in the midst of constant act of violence against religious minority groups. As a consequence, the message might gradually lose its credibility. It becomes meaningless when the moderate majority is repeatedly silenced as is usually the case.

Being silent signals multiple interpretations: Silence is a matter of lacking knowledge as to how to react to the committed violence, silence shows fear, silence simply means ignorance, or silence is equal to a neutral position '€” all of which imply negative impressions that can support violence itself. As Mahatma Gandhi said, '€œA neutral position is tantamount to supporting [violence]'€.

Quite the opposite of the popular quote, silence in the perceptible state of violence is not golden. Rather, silence could bring the danger of violence reproduction. To avoid the danger, a mass voice of peaceful protests must be made louder and noisier against the atrocities.

Voicing the elimination of violence by peaceful means, in many ways, could be a powerful weapon of a truth defender as demonstrated by inspiring stories of non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King or other uncovered similar stories by ordinary people around the globe. On this special occasion of International Day of Peace, the message is made clear and bold: break the silence and resist sectarian violence peacefully!

The writer is a teaching staff at department of international relations and Masters in peace and conflict resolution of Gadjah Mada University.