T

he central government is continuing to ignore religious-based discrimination and violence, with many cases going unresolved, human rights watchdogs have said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said recently that the government had yet to act on plans to revoke religious-based bylaws and ordinances that tended to discriminate against minority groups.

Komnas HAM religion and faith freedom desk coordinator Jayadi Damanik said that according to Article 10 Point 1 of the 2014 Regional Administrations Law, regulating religion is the authority of central government, not local administrations.

'€œLocal administrations are the worst violators of religious freedom; they tend to work on their own agenda in their own political interests,'€ Jayadi said. '€œThe existence of such discriminatory bylaws shows the weakness of the central government in handling and monitoring its subordinates.'€

According to data from rights group Setara Institute, there are 57 bylaws across the country that discriminate against certain religious groups and could endanger the country'€™s pluralism.

In Bogor, West Java, for example, Mayor Bima Arya issued a circular on October banning members of the city'€™s Shia community from celebrating their religious feast day, Asyura.

Accusations of intolerance also surround the prolonged saga of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin in Bogor, which started after the administration issued a decree freezing the church'€™s building permit (IMB) in February 2008 in response to Islamic opposition.

Jayadi said the government could, if willing, revoke the bylaws in question.

'€œThe government often deems such cases to be under the remit of local authorities, so turns a blind eye to religious intolerance,'€ he said.

Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) deputy director Choirul Anam said that the government itself had issued a number of regulations that might indirectly discriminate against minority groups, such as Religious Affairs Ministry and Home Ministry joint decrees No. 9/2006 and No. 8/2006 on the establishment of places of worship.

The decrees stipulate that to obtain a permit to build a place of worship, there must be a minimum of 90 members of the congregation, support from 60 other residents in the area and a recommendation letter from the local authority.

According to Choirul, the decrees make it hard for religious minorities looking to establish places of worship to obtain a permit and pave the way for the government and communities to blackmail minority groups.

The Religious Affairs Ministry claims it is striving to deal with religious intolerance, including by coordinating with the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the Home Ministry.

'€œWe have conducted countless discussions and meetings as part of efforts to improve tolerance among religions,'€ said the head of the ministry'€™s Center of Religious Harmony, Wawan Djunaedi. (foy)