Indonesia report points finger at President Yudhoyono
Christian group says his speeches have licensed religious intolerance
President Yudhoyono (file picture: Wikimedia Commons)
- Mike MacLachlan, London
- Indonesia
- February 26, 2014
A new report on rising religious intolerance in Indonesia points a finger at President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his government for failure to protect religious minorities.
Indonesia "is at a crossroads", facing a rising tide of Muslim fundamentalism, much of it imported from the Middle East, says the report published on Feb 25 by the rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
Despite the president's "uplifting rhetoric" his government has failed to protect minorities, prevent violence or deliver justice, it says.
Worse, CSW adds, the president "has made speeches which have given license to the forces of intolerance and has allowed some of his ministers to make extremely inflammatory remarks."
The report opens with a 2007 quotation from Yudhoyono: "We must all take strict measures against deviant beliefs."
It points out that the five principles of the state philosophy Pancasila, promulgated by the first president, Sukarno, in 1945, are designed in part to protect pluralism in a nation that is 86 per cent Muslim.
But it warns that the principle of pluralism could be imperilled in the present circumstances.
It quotes a representative of the mainstream Muslim organization Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah as saying: "The government is inconsistent. It proclaims pluralism and inter-faith dialogue … but it is very indecisive and reluctant to act."
According to Dr Musdah Mulia, chair of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, there are in force a large number of "discriminative laws and public policies in regard to religion such as severe restrictions on building places of worship".
There have also been cases of "criminalization of victims" in which Christians, Ahmadis and Shia Muslims have been arraigned on false charges after being themselves attacked.
The report, which draws on CSW's 15 years' experience in Indonesia, was launched at a meeting in a committee room of the UK parliament attended by members of both houses as well as an inter-faith delegation from Indonesia.
It warns: "Religious intolerance is no longer confined to areas such as West Java and Aceh, known to be particularly conservative, nor is it confined to Christians and Ahmadis.
"Shia Muslims, Sufi Muslims, Confucians, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha'is, Jews, traditional indigenous believers and atheists are all under attack."
While the conduct of some evangelical Christian churches may have contributed to tensions, the majority of churches cannot be accused on "Christianisation", the report says.
More than 30 pages of the 100-page report detail a sometimes horrifying catalogue of attacks on religious minorities, including beating, murders and burning of places of worship.
It urges the Indonesian government to take decisive action to protect the principles of Pancasila, and appeals to the European Union and its member states, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United States and Canada to express concern about the situation.
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