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Religious Affairs Ministry, rights body join forces to tackle religious intolerance
As religious intolerance in Indonesia keeps growing, activists pin their hopes on a joint initiative between the Religious Affairs Ministry and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to reduce the number of cases of religious intolerance in the country.
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Tolerance: A motorcyclist passes a mural depicting representatives of multiple religions in Cinere, Depok, West Java, on July 29, 2020. (JP/P.J. Leo)
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ndonesia’s Religious Affairs Ministry is working together with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to form a joint help desk, which activists hope will help reduce the probability of intolerance in the country.
The collaboration, announced earlier this month, aims to offer quick responses to issues of religious discrimination, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas has said.
Both sides have identified existing cases of religious intolerance and discussed working mechanisms for the desk, as well as the most effective strategy for intervention, said Komnas HAM commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara.
Beka told The Jakarta Post that the desk would handle reports from native-faith followers as well as other minority groups such as the Ahmadiyah, alongside any grievances from the six major religious groups that are recognized by the state.
In multiethnic and conservative-leaning Indonesia, home to the largest Muslim population in the world, religious intolerance remains a big problem despite having a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion as a human right that may not be limited or derogated.
According to a study published in 2019 by the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, violations of freedom of religion remains one of the biggest problems to occur at the state level since 2007, with West Java and DKI Jakarta recording the most incidents of religious intolerance nationwide over the past 12 years since the study was first commissioned.
Throughout President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s first term, which started in 2014, Setara recorded 846 incidents and 1,060 distinct acts of violating freedom of religion, kompas.com reported.
