The Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) has called on the next government to step up efforts to safeguard religious freedom through legal means.
The secretary of the KWI's commission on justice, peace and missions, PC Siswantoko, said that the future government of the country must put a stop to the politicization of religious intolerance, as it had created discord in the community.
"In the midst of the current political debate, the issue of religious intolerance has become a serious infringement of human rights," Siswantoko said on Tuesday.
The KWI also called on the new president elected in the July 9 election to defend the rights of those who fall victim to religious discrimination.
"The next president will need to courageously defend victims of violence and injustice," said Siswantoko, adding that the current presidential candidates had been non-committal in their statements on the matter.
He said that the country's next leader should issue a new law that safeguards the right to religious freedom and provides legal standards to facilitate action by law enforcement agencies.
"As long as there is no avenue for comprehensive law enforcement, our democracy will remain a procedural one, which does not contributed to justice and equality," he said.
Meanwhile, Guido Suprapto, the KWI's executive secretary for the lay congregation commission, said the national ideology of Pancasila provides clear guidelines for interfaith dialogue and harmony.
Even so, the introduction of a specific law governing religious freedom would help law enforcers handle cases of intolerance, Guido said.
He suspected that there had been a lack of political will among regional leaders to solve religious discrimination in the country as they were only concerned with maintaining religious harmony as a formality.
Agustinus Ulahayanan, another member of the KWI, said that training and education for public servants could help to instill multicultural values.
"Law enforcers have a certain bias or fear of handling situations of religious intolerance. They even tend toward inaction," Agustinus said.
According to Agustinus, there is no system in place to allow law enforcers to work professionally in cases of religious friction.
Last month, a group of people wearing Muslim garb attacked a house in Sleman, Yogyakarta in which a rosary prayer recital was taking place. The house's owner, Julius Felicianus, Kompas TV journalist Michael Aryawan and three other members of the prayer group were injured in the attack.
The incident was one of several that appear to indicate a resurgence of Islamic radicalism in Yogyakarta, which is the birthplace of the Muhammadiyah, the nation's second-largest Islamic organization and whose former chairman, Amien Rais, is a staunch supporter of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto. (tjs)
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