Hong Kong, China — Since the amendment to the Indonesian constitution in 2000, Indonesian citizens are guaranteed the right to freedom of religion and belief in accordance to one’s own conscience. This was reinforced with Indonesia’s ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2006 and its subsequent incorporation into domestic law. Despite such legal and constitutional provisions, on June 9, Indonesia’s religious affairs minister, Muhammad Maftuh Basyuni, Home Minister Mardiyanto, and Attorney General Hendarman Supanji issued a decree tightening restrictions on the minority Ahmadiyah community.
The decree orders the Ahmadiyah to “stop spreading interpretations and activities which deviate from the principal teachings of Islam,” including “the spreading of the belief that there is another prophet with his own teachings after Prophet Mohammed”. Violations of the decree are subject to up to five years of imprisonment.
The decree follows the recommendation made on April 16, by Indonesia’s Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) to ban the Ahmadiyah faith. According to a Human Rights Watch press release, moderate Muslim leaders including former president Abdurrahman Wahid and civil rights activists responded by rallying support for the Ahmadiyah and the principle of freedom of religion in Indonesia. More than 200 civil society actors including Muslim scholars, Catholic priests, Protestant preachers, Confucianists, Buddhists, Hindus, poets, writers, and human rights campaigners signed a petition saying the government should be protecting the Ahmadiyah from attack.
The Indonesian government however, has instead listened to the voices of the hardliners including the controversial Islamic Defense Front (FPI) infamous for its protest actions, particularly against entertainment venues during Ramadan. On June 1, the group attacked supporters of the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) who were gathered together with many other groups and individuals in Jakarta to commemorate the 63rd year of Pancasila -- the philosophical embodiment of five basic principles of the Indonesian state, with the theme ‘One Indonesia for All’. According to local rights group KontraS, the FPI wore black disguises and were armed with swords, spears, and sand, which they threw into the eyes of AKKBB supporters. Furthermore, they threatened police officers stationed there who provided no defense for the AKKBB supporters. One police officer fled the scene after his car was attacked by a member of the FPI.
Rather than restricting the religious rights of minorities, Indonesia should be looking to restrict such violent behavior and intolerance. By giving in to extremist demands, the government of President Yudhoyono is setting itself up for further pressure on any number of issues. As prominent lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said, “The government has been weakened by this decision, weakened in the sense that aggressive or extremist fundamentalist Muslims have taken a good lesson from this. They know they can put pressure on the government.”
By failing to protect the rights of its citizens, and by failing to hold those responsible to account, Indonesia is losing ground on its road to genuine democracy. No democratic society can function effectively without state protection and promotion of basic rights. The arbitrary restrictions placed on the rights of one community can dangerously affect a multitude of other rights and other communities.