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Jakarta Post

Indonesians increasingly blame the weak: Scholar

Indonesia is facing a growing trend of discriminating against the country’s minorities and marginalized communities, activists and a scholar say.

Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, December 22, 2016

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Indonesians increasingly blame the weak: Scholar Security concerns: National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian (left) wipes his forehead as Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Ma’ruf Amin (center) and Islam Defenders Front (FPI) chairman Rizieq Shihab look on during a press conference at the MUI headquarters in Jakarta recently. Ma'ruf Amin has defended the council's edict prohibiting companies and business owners from making Muslim employees wear Christmas-related paraphernalia. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

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ndonesia is facing a growing trend of discriminating against the country’s minorities and marginalized communities, activists and a scholar have said.

Law and human rights professor Harkristuti Harkrisnowo said there was “a frightening tendency among the people to blame others, including the victims.”

The former official with the Law and Human Rights Ministry argued that the growing culture of “blaming others” was part of the consequences of democracy implemented in Indonesia.

“Democracy caters to the voice of the majority,” Harkristuti said. Unfortunately, she added, the majority’s voice in the country was not in line with human rights principles.

A lack of law enforcement was exacerbating the issue, said Press Council chairman Yosep Adi Prasetyo.

“Law enforcers accommodate the interests of certain groups that commit violence. This allows them to impose their will on other groups in society,” he said. (evi)

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