Religious anti-pluralism in Indonesia-6 Septmeber 2007

 

 

In March 2007, Mohammad Shofan, a former lecturer at Universitas Muhammadiyah Gersik, was dismissed by the university council because of a paper he had written titled ‘Christmas and Pluralism’ in which he stated that the saying Merry Christmas was a form of respect for Jesus, who is a prophet in the Quran. This incident was not an isolated case but part of increasing concern over the growth of anti-pluralist religious activity within Indonesia. Indeed, in August 2005, the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa forbidding liberal, secular and pluralist views. Indonesia officially recognizes five religious groups (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism) although no one religion is the state religion. Religious tension has always existed within the state, from the Darul Islam uprisings of the 1950s to the Christmas Eve Church bombings in 2000, yet, where anti-pluralist religious violence previously existed on the fringes of society, recent tension at the regional and national level has led it to become a national concern and a threat to the unity of the country. Violence against religious groups such as Ahmadiyah as well as the passing of religiously influenced laws at the regional level is two ways in which the tolerance of Indonesian society has come under threat.

 

The Islamic sect, Ahmadiyah, has 200,000 members throughout Indonesia many of whom are on the receiving end of hostility from Muslim hard-line groups who consider Ahmadiyah’s beliefs to be heretical. In the past two years the Ahmadiyah community has been continually harassed and attacked as in Cianjur, West Java, in September 2005, Ranjawila, South Sulawesi, in February 2006, and Praya, Lombok, in August 2006. Further, in July 2005, two hundred rioters ransacked Ahmadiyah’s Mubarak Campus in Jakarta. The situation is exacerbated by declarations from the MUI claiming Ahmadiyah to be a heretical sect and from comments by Religious Affairs Minister, Maftuh Basyuni, declaring Ahmadiyah as a ‘deviant sect.’ Similar harassment has been experienced by other religious minority groups as in March 2007, when members of the Arastamir Evangelical School of Theology were harassed by two-hundred members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). This has led to difficulties for Ahmadiyah and other minority groups to practice their beliefs peacefully and is an unfortunate sign that Islamic hard-liners are chipping away at Indonesia’s tolerant identity.

 

The post-Suharto reformasi led to greater regional autonomy throughout the country. Although this new found regional autonomy was recognition of the country’s cultural diversity, it has often led to the imposition of religious based laws that run counter to Indonesia’s state philosophy of Pancasila which stresses Unity through Diversity. Indeed, more than fifty legislative bodies have imposed Sharia inspired laws within the country. For example, Aceh has recently imposed its version of Sharia, while in Padang, Sumatra, schoolchildren must wear Islamic dress even if they are not Muslim. In Tangerang, June 2006, the ‘tranquillity and public order officers’ charged a woman, Lilis Lindawati, as being a prostitute under a local law forbidding lewd behaviour although she protested her innocence. It is unfortunate that, rather than upholding the states multi-religious identity, the central government has allowed for such breaches of the national civil code to continue. Further, Islamic hard-liners have continued to push for religiously inspired laws at the national level, including an anti-pornography bill that would hand down a five year prison sentence for public kissing.

 

The harassment of religious minorities, such as Ahmadiyah, and the passing or religiously inspired laws highlights the increasingly worrying anti-pluralist ruptures emerging within Indonesian society. Together with continuing sectarian violence in Sulawesi and religious extremism (evident with the arrest of several people in Yogyakarta, March 2007) the problems facing Indonesian society are vast. Yet, certain movements within Civil Society can perhaps offer a progressive vision. For example, in January, 2007, Haysim Muzadi, leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, met Muhammadiyah chairman, Din Syamsuddin, agreeing to work together to promote national unity. They stressed that the development of Islam should be made in the spirit of togetherness and in consultation with other religious groups. Such a spirit is necessary in order to combat religious intolerance although society cannot work against anti-pluralist groups and legislature on its own. Rather it must work together with the government and local administrations and therefore it is necessary for the government to play a more active role in upholding the civil liberties of the Indonesian people enshrined in the 1945 Constitution.