In spite of their stance on pluralism, major political parties in the House of Representatives have condoned, if not outrightly supported, discrimination against religious minorities.
Except for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), political parties continue to seemingly support Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto's decision to revoke Indonesian Christian Church (GKI Yasmin)'s building permit despite throwing their weight behind the beleaguered church congregation in public statements.
Only the PDI-P officially withdrew its support for Diani following the Supreme Court's ruling in 2010 that annulled the mayor's ruling.
Other political parties, including the Democratic Party, the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), have all given Diani a pass.
"We, as a party, decided to officially withdraw our support for him [Mayor Diani] following the Court's ruling because his insistence to seal the church is a blatant disregard of the law. We refuse to support his policy as it will set a bad precedent for law enforcement in the country," PDI-P lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari from House Commission III overseeing law and human rights told The Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile, executives from two other parties, the Democratic Party and Golkar, rehashed their old arguments, saying that they had little control over what their politicians did at the local level.
"I, as a leader of House Commission III, fully support freedom for all, including the freedom to worship, as long as it is consistent with the law, which is already clear in the GKI Yasmin case. The Democratic Party has also stated clearly that we support the rights of GKI Yasmin to occupy the premises. But, we can't deny that several of our members at the regional councils, for example, may not share our perspective for different reasons," lawmaker I Gede Pasek Suardika told the Post on Tuesday.
Separately, Golkar deputy secretary-general Nurul Arifin said that local members of the party were being pragmatic by not protecting the rights of minority groups.
"Some of our members in different regions have admitted that they were forced to support policies deemed discriminatory to get support. But we can assure you that Golkar, as a party, doesn't support such practices," Nurul said.
Human rights watchdog Setara Institute recorded that several political parties were responsible for religious discrimination, allowing members of local administrations to support attacks on churches, Ahmadiyah mosques, as well as other faith groups.
PPP lawmakers, for example, had condoned discrimination against Ahmadis and Shiites in North Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara and East Java, among others.
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