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Indonesia still denies religious minorities freedom to worship
As the country's visibility rises on the international stage, it needs to take a more serious stance on upholding human rights, including the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
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A banner protesting the activities of the Ahmadiyah is displayed on June 24, 2017 near the minority religion’s mosque in Sawangan, Depok, West Java. (Courrtesy of Tim Pembela Kebebasan Sipil/-)
I
ndonesia remains a notable laggard in ensuring religious freedom, despite the commitment it made before the United Nations Human Rights Committee to comply with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Country submissions of Indonesia from 2012 to 2022, as well as shadow reports submitted by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and concluding observations from the committee examining the country’s compliance with the ICCPR, indicate that it has failed to fulfill the right to religion for minority groups.
In its initial periodic report to the committee in 2012, after it had ratified the ICCPR in 2005, Indonesia states that freedom of religion is inherent and that “the state must respect, uphold and protect the right”.
However, such “diplomatic jargon” that Indonesia frequently uses at the UN is alien to religious minorities in the country.
According to documents submitted by NGOs and the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) to the committee, hundreds of Shia Muslims fled their village in Madura in August 2012 after angry mobs attacked and burned their houses following a decision by a local Muslim body that declared their teaching “deviant”.
Many of these Shia Muslims are still displaced, living in temporary shelters, and local residents have frequently attempted, with the support of government officials, to convert them to Sunni Islam in exchange for safe passage returning to their village.
Frequent attacks on followers of the Ahmadiyah minority religion also highlight Indonesia’s failure to protect religious minorities.
