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Freedom of religion suffers in persistently divided nation
Rights watchdog, Imparsial, recorded at least 31 violations of the freedom of religion and worship (KBB) in the country last year. Most dominant were the dispersal of religious activities and the prohibition of the construction of houses of worship.
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The congregations of the GKI Yasmin church and HKBP Filadelfia hold their Christmas service in front of Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Christmas Day in this file photo. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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iolations of religious freedom persist in Indonesia despite stipulations in Article 29 of the 1945 Constitution that guarantee the freedom to worship according to one’s own beliefs.
Imparsial, a human rights watchdog, recorded at least 31 violations of the freedom of religion and worship (KBB) in the country last year. Most dominant were the dispersal of religious activities and the prohibition of the construction of houses of worship.
The majority of the victims were of minority religious groups, which, in Indonesia, consist of adherents to any religion except Islam. Muslims account for about 87 percent of the country’s 264 million people.
The minorities include Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians and hundreds of indigenous faiths such as Sundanese Wiwitan and Javanese Kejawen. Other citizens decline to identify their beliefs or lack religious sentiment altogether.
These groups received unfair treatment from private citizens, Islamic religious mass organizations and – to the surprise of many – local authorities who were supposed to defend citizens’ fundamental rights.
The government and the President have done very little to change the state of affairs.
Twenty-eight of the 31 cases recorded by Imparsial this year were committed by local residents with the support of hard-line mass organizations. The remaining three cases were perpetrated by state officials.
