T

he Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) has called on the next government to step up efforts to safeguard religious freedom through legal means.

The secretary of the KWI'€™s commission on justice, peace and missions, PC Siswantoko, said that the future government of the country must put a stop to the politicization of religious intolerance, as it had created discord in the community.

'€œIn the midst of the current political debate, the issue of religious intolerance has become a serious infringement of human rights,'€ Siswantoko said on Tuesday.

The KWI also called on the new president elected in the July 9 election to defend the rights of those who fall victim to religious discrimination.

'€œThe next president will need to courageously defend victims of violence and injustice,'€ said Siswantoko, adding that the current presidential candidates had been non-committal in their statements on the matter.

He said that the country'€™s next leader should issue a new law that safeguards the right to religious freedom and provides legal standards to facilitate action by law enforcement agencies.

'€œAs long as there is no avenue for comprehensive law enforcement, our democracy will remain a procedural one, which does not contributed to justice and equality,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Guido Suprapto, the KWI'€™s executive secretary for the lay congregation commission, said the national ideology of Pancasila provides clear guidelines for interfaith dialogue and harmony.

Even so, the introduction of a specific law governing religious freedom would help law enforcers handle cases of intolerance, Guido said.

He suspected that there had been a lack of political will among regional leaders to solve religious discrimination in the country as they were only concerned with maintaining religious harmony as a formality.

Agustinus Ulahayanan, another member of the KWI, said that training and education for public servants could help to instill multicultural values.

'€œLaw enforcers have a certain bias or fear of handling situations of religious intolerance. They even tend toward inaction,'€ Agustinus said.

According to Agustinus, there is no system in place to allow law enforcers to work professionally in cases of religious friction.

Last month, a group of people wearing Muslim garb attacked a house in Sleman, Yogyakarta in which a rosary prayer recital was taking place. The house'€™s owner, Julius Felicianus, Kompas TV journalist Michael Aryawan and three other members of the prayer group were injured in the attack.

The incident was one of several that appear to indicate a resurgence of Islamic radicalism in Yogyakarta, which is the birthplace of the Muhammadiyah, the nation'€™s second-largest Islamic organization and whose former chairman, Amien Rais, is a staunch supporter of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto. (tjs)