TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Govt urged to revise ‘unfair’ decree on houses of worship

Amid a series of attacks on churches in Indonesia, observers have demanded the government revise a decree that requires local residents to approve the construction of houses of worship

Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, February 22, 2020

Share This Article

Change Size

Govt urged to revise ‘unfair’ decree on houses of worship

A

span>Amid a series of attacks on churches in Indonesia, observers have demanded the government revise a decree that requires local residents to approve the construction of houses of worship.

Since the signing of the 2006 joint ministerial decree on places of worship, religious minorities have struggled to obtain permits to construct them.

Although Indonesia’s Constitution guarantees freedom of religion for every citizen, the decree requires a congregation to obtain 90 signatures from its members and another 60 from other residents before building a house of worship.

It also requires that the congregation obtain an endorsement letter from the local administration and a recommendation letter from the local regional affairs office and the Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB).

These obligations have proven difficult for adherents to religions other than Islam, the country’s majority religion. Christians, the second-largest religious group in the country, make up about 10 percent of the population. Religious minorities often face rejection because the small congregations struggle to satisfy the regulation’s signature
requirements.

Even if a congregation does meet all the requirements, rejection by other residents can still get in the way. A church in Bantul, Yogyakarta, which had earlier acquired all the necessary permits, was recently forced to move to another village after locals resisted its construction.

The renovation of the 92-year-old Santo Joseph Catholic Church in Karimun, Riau Islands, has come to a halt after local groups protested and legally challenged its building permit issued by the local administration at the Tanjungpinang State Administrative Court (PTUN).

______

"The new regulation should also talk about criminal charges against people trying to obstruct the construction of places of worship of other religious communities. Jokowi said to enforce the law in Karimun, but what mechanisms will we use? There are none.”

______

The church committee had obtained the permit after completing an application process that began in 2012.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo made a promise to revise the decree in his 2014 presidential campaign, but it has yet to be fulfilled due to a lack of political will.

Setara Institute researcher Halili Hasan urged the government to scrap the "discriminatory 90-60 formula [with regard to required signatures]" and to enact a new regulation focusing on the technical aspects of construction rather than ideological requirements.

"The new regulation should also talk about criminal charges against people trying to obstruct the construction of places of worship of other religious communities. Jokowi said to enforce the law in Karimun, but what mechanisms will we use? There are none,” he said.

He added that not all resistance came from local residents; it also came from intolerant political groups because such resistance did not carry legal consequences.

In response to the Karimun case, Jokowi said last week that he had called for firm action to ensure that religious freedom was upheld, while adding that such matters were the responsibility of regional administrations.

But Ubaidillah Amin Moech, a staff member from the Religious Affairs Ministry who had been assigned to mediate the case, returned to Jakarta and said that it was not a case of intolerance, but rather one of building permits.

Just like in other proposed projects to build or renovate churches in the country, observers fear that efforts to renovate the heritage Catholic church will end with a victory for intolerant groups.

Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razy said it would be possible for the ministry to review a joint ministerial decree that has long made it difficult for religious minorities to get permits to build their places of worship.

"The ministry's research and development department will try to see if any revision is necessary," he said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Fachrul, however, argued that the prevailing decree had been created on a constitutional basis to grant everyone the right to religious freedom as long as it did not contradict other people's rights or prevailing laws.

At the same briefing, the ministry's secretary for Islamic Affairs Community Guidance Directorate General, Tarmizi Tohor, defended the decree, whose deliberation, he said, had involved leaders of acknowledged religious groups. He said the decree was "good as long as it was followed"; otherwise, conflicts would ensue.

The ministry encouraged the public to respect the trial process at the Tanjungpinang PTUN.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.