Indonesian government must take action against religious violence

Annual Report on Religious Life in Indonesia 2010

Indonesia has experienced 39 cases of interreligious tensions around places of worship in the past year. 17 cases concerned attacks on houses of worship or violence against members of religious groups, reports CRCS in its Annual Report on Religious Life in Indonesia.

The number of incidents has more than doubled compared to 2009. Despite this alarming trend, the government has chosen to play down the matter. According to Suryadharma Ali, Minister of Religion, there were “no incidents of violence between religious groups in 2010, only issues with religious groups that failed to comply with the regulations pertaining to the erection of new houses of worship.”

Besides the increase of interreligious tensions, particularly between Christian and Muslim groups, there have been various attacks by members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) on places of prostitution or gambling and on sexual minorities. In many of these incidents, such as the protests at the Q! Film Festival and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association Conference in Surabaya, FPI members were not hindered by police but accompanied by them in the course of carrying out their violent actions.

The report urges the Indonesian government to take a clear stance regarding the limits of religious freedom and individual rights. Various developments in 2010, such as the Constitutional Court’s ruling to uphold the Law on Religious Defamation, show that Indonesia is held captive in fear to address open issues regarding religion, moral standards and space for expression and engagement. The political elite appears to be afraid to be portrayed as ‘anti-Islam’ and to threaten the fragile harmony among different religious groups. 2011 offers an opportunity for serious discussion of these matters during the parliament’s debate on the proposed Bill on Religious Harmony.

However, the report cautions against a legal ban of the Islamic Defenders Front. “It is the violence by members of the FPI that must be dealt with. The dissolution of FPI would only serve to demonstrate the inability of the government to address such flagrant violations of law” states Zainal Abidin Bagir, one of the authors.