Hope for religious freedom in Indonesia

Nov 11, 2014

JAKARTA: Members of several religious minority groups in Indonesia say they are cautiously optimistic about plans to draft a new bill to protect persecuted minorities in the predominantly Muslim country.

Minister of Religious Affairs, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin told local media, that his ministry plans to draft new legislation aimed at protecting religious freedom in a country where rights groups say there has been an alarming surge in intolerance in recent years.

“This is a new breakthrough for the current government,” Ahmad Hidayat, secretary general of the Indonesian Ahlulbait, an umbrella group for Shia followers, told ucanews.com Thursday.

“Seeing the minister’s spirit, I feel optimistic. I’m really sure that the regulation will protect religious groups,” he said.

Lukman told reporters that the bill would specifically address the issues of the closure of churches, as well as attacks on mosques belonging to Shia and Ahmadiyya followers.

In Indonesia, the national law offers protection to minority communities, but its implementation by local governments has been far from consistent.

Hidayat said he hoped the minister will have the power to enact his new legislation — and that local governments would be compelled to abide by it.

The “political situation often prevents policies taken by the national government from being implemented by the local governments,” he said.

Other religious leaders also reacted positively to Lukman’s plans.

“We give a thumbs-up to the minister for planning the bill,” said Deden Sujana, leader of a community of Ahmadiyya followers in West Java. “We hope the regulation will let us pray solemnly without any disturbance in the future.” He said that some mainstream conservatives had failed to understand the true meaning of religious freedom. “We’ve been persecuted for a long time.”

Fr Antonius Benny Susetyo, the former executive secretary of the Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference, said that Lukman must refer to Indonesia’s original 1945 constitution when drafting the new bill.

Article 29 of the constitution guarantees each citizen the right to worship in accordance with his or her beliefs.

“The minister must be transparent,” Susetyo said. “Read the content first, and then share it with the public.”

The majority of Indonesians are adherents of the Sunni Muslim tradition. Minority Muslim groups such as Ahmadis and Shias — as well as Christians — have faced ongoing persecution from hardline Islamic groups. -- ucanews.com