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Resolving Indonesia's religious freedom quandary
So if nobody disavows the importance of religious freedom, why on earth does (religious) persecution endure? Let us zoom in on the bigger picture to understand the issue.
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A man cleans up lawn at the the Pancasila Sakti (Sacred Pancasila) monument complex in Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta, in this Sept. 28, 2013 photo. (The Jakarta Post/P.J. Leo)
I
t has become old news to hear public figures emphasizing their commitment to religious freedom. Most recently, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo reiterated his commitment, stressing that there is “no room for intolerance”. But, most importantly, will it become a reality?
Our recent record shows that this will be just another empty promise. Strange but true, a rabble-rouser like Rizieq Shihab and company say they unequivocally support religious freedom while they are notorious for acting savagely against anyone whom they think deviates from the orthodoxies that they, of course, espouse.
So if nobody disavows the importance of religious freedom, why on earth does (religious) persecution endure? Let us zoom in on the bigger picture to understand the issue.
First, a word of caution. Indonesia’s conception is wildly different from those found in international law. The international conception is based on the notion that religious worship is an inviolable individual right. Naturally, any act of heterodoxy should be protected as being part of the exercise of individual rights. But in the Indonesian model it is legally valid to claim that heterodoxy infringes the communal right to religious freedom.
