The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011
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EDITOR: Ismail Hasani The ConditionBonar Tigor Naipospos of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 POLITIK DISKRIMINASI REZIM SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO Kondisi Kebebasan Beragama/Berkeyakinan di Indonesia 2011 Pustaka Masyarakat Setara The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 Jakarta, January 2012 155 mm x 230 mm vi + 134 pages ISBN: 978-602-18668-0-1 Writers Agnes Dwi R (Jakarta) Akhol Firdaus (Jawa Timur) Apridon Zaini (Sulawesi Utara) Azhari Aiyub (Aceh) Dewi Nova (Banten) Indra Listiantara (Jakarta) M. Bahrun (NTB) M. Irfan (Jawa Barat) Rochmond Onasis (Kalimantan Tengah) Syarif Abadi (Lampung) Editor Ismail Hasani Bonar Tigor Naipospos Layout Titikoma-Jakarta Cover source www.matanews.com Diterbitkan oleh Pustaka Masyarakat Setara The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 Foreword The freedom of religion / belief condition report in Indonesia in 2011 was presented to the public on December 19, 2011. However, due to various resource constraints this report has just been published in February 2012. As a monitoring report, this publication is intended in order to expand the spectrum of readers and the expansion of Setara community constituency to jointly advocate the freedom of religion / belief in Indonesia. The report titled Discrimination Politics in the Regime of Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is the fifth report since 2007 SETARA Institute publishes an annual report. As written in previous reports, the events of freedom of religion / belief violations reported by using the standard method and recording. Regular modifications madefor the current themes which becomes the tendency in the particular recent years. This time, the report contains nine kinds of topics of discrimination and violence targeting religious groups / beliefs, and spread in different areas. The variety of discrimination in section III is intended to demonstrate to all parties that discrimination targets all the layers of religious groups. The theme of this fifth report represents the achievements of this state’s anticlimactic performance in promoting pluralism and the freedom of religion / belief guarantee in Indonesia. Discriminatory politics which becomes the state’s choice reflected in the sequence of events that occurred since the 2007-2011 that keeps increasing iii The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 and did not get serious handling by the state. This report invites all readers to think, take side, and act tolerantly and quickly encouraging all state’s components to take part in the promotion of human rights. [] iv The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 Table of Contents Foreword ..........................................................................................iii Table of Contents ..............................................................................v CHAPTER 1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1. Background ................................................................................. 1 2. Methodology ...............................................................................5 3. Operational Definitions ..............................................................6 CHAPTER 2 State Of Freedom of Religion/Belief In 2011 ................................. 19 CHAPTER 3 Range of Discrimination and Violations of Freedom of Religion/ Belief ...............................................................................................31 1. Discrimination and The Paradox of Islamic Sharia Enforcement in Aceh ................................................................32 2. Criminalization 0f Followers of Bahá’í Religion in Sidorejo, Udik Village, East Lampung ....................................................50 3. Attack on Jama’ah Salafi in Mesanggok Hamlet, Gapuk Village, Gerung Subdistrict, West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara ... 58 4. Civil Disobedience on Legality of Establishment of GKI Taman Yasmin, Bogor, West Java .......................................................65 5. Prohibition on Construction of Mushola Dome in Talawaan v The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 Bantik, Wori Subdistrict, North Minahasa District ................ 80 6. Discrimination Against Kaharingan Followers in Central Kalimantan ...............................................................................85 7. Church Burning During Temanggung Riot ..............................92 8. Standing on Their Own Two Feet: Voices Of Ahmadiyah Victims Following The Cikeusik Banten Incident ..................100 CHAPTER 4 Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................ 127 1. Conclusions ............................................................................. 127 2. Recommendations ..................................................................129 Bibliography ..................................................................................131 vi The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1. Background Implementation of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion/belief in Indonesia is mandated under the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia as amended in the years 2000-2004. In addition to being a constitutional mandate, implementation of the guarantee of freedom of religion/belief is also a consequence of the political act of the state in ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2005 through Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 12 of 2005. On the constitutional mandate and the legal mandate above, the entire national paradigm of Indonesia is set forth in documents arising from a consensus among Indonesian people affirming that plurality is a sociological fact that must be held in high esteem, respected, and continues to be maintained. The Indonesian nation was established precisely because of the acknowledgment of this diversity. The People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat/MPR) of the Republic of Indonesia has also affirmed four pillars of the life of the nation and state. Apart from being a response to concerns about the current state of the Indonesian nation, the MPR in very timely fashion again rolled out a genuine consensus born out of the long history of the Indonesian people. Since 2009, 1 The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 MPR RI has continued to campaign on the Four Pillars of National Life, namely Pancasila, Unity in Diversity (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika), Constitution, and the United Nation of the Republic of Indonesia (Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia/NKRI). At the level of the vision of nationality, the four pillars of the life of the nation and state appear to be a kind of affirmation that puts an end to the various tensions occurring throughout the history of this nation. Tension in relations between religion and state, relations between the majority and minorities, and an emphasis on the positive values of particular religions [can be found] in the text of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.1 These tensions have been overcome normatively by pushing a genuine consensus confirming that this country was established based on Pancasila, which guarantees diversity of ethnicity. Further, the1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia asserts more robustly on guaranteeing acknowledgment of diversity, including guaranteeing diversity of religions/beliefs by formulating the constitutional right guaranteeing freedom of religion/belief. It has to be admitted that the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia fails to affirm the ideal form of the State of the Republic of Indonesia, whether it is a secular state or a religious state. Nevertheless, the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion/belief should be appreciated. Apart from the emphasis in Article 29 (1), which mentions that “The State shall be based upon the belief in One Almighty God”, the argument on the imperfect structure of the state is also reflected in the formulation of the limits to the guarantees of the constitutional rights of citizens recorded in Article 28 J (2), which reads: “In exercising his/her rights and freedoms, every person shall have the duty to accept the restrictions established by law for the sole purpose of guaranteeing the recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of satisfying just demands based 1 Note that these events took place during the formulation of the Text for the Youth Pledge, the debate at BPUPKI while preparing the Text for the 1945 Constitution, and the debate on the Amendment of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia concerning Article 29 in 2000-2004. 2 The Condition of Freedom of Religion/ Belief in Indonesia 2011 upon considerations of morality, religious values, security and public order in a democratic society.” The formulation of the limits to the guarantee on citizens’ constitutional rights in the sentence “..based upon considerations of morality, religious values,...”opens up the opportunity for the interpretation by the majority group to dominate, culminating in tense relations between the majority and minorities. The guarantee of this right is blunted in the face of the consideration that such right conflicts with religious values. Reliance on religious values when considering the legitimacy of guaranteeing a right has meant the firm guarantee in the legal formulation is negated by competing interpretations of religious