Religious intolerance grows in Indonesia
American President Barack Obama makes a trip to Indonesia this month, returning to the country he called home for several years during his childhood.
Obama's goodwill mission to the world's most populace Muslim-majority country comes at a time when Islamic extremism is on the rise in the Indonesian archipelago, where Christians are targets of government harassment and militant violence.
According to the 2009 census, approximately 86 per cent of the 230 million people in the Southeast Asian country identify themselves as Muslim. Christians, who make up 8.7 per cent of the population, are the largest religious minority.
The secular republic's constitution is based on the pluralistic national philosophy known as the Pancasila, which has five core principles: belief in God, justice, national unity, democracy and social justice.
Since 1998, Indonesia has been making the transition from dictatorship to democracy. Human rights groups acknowledge that the country has made progress under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the current president.
"However, during his presidency, religious minorities have experienced harassment, intimidation, discrimination and even violence perpetrated by groups espousing intolerance and extremism under the banner of Islamic orthodoxy," states the 2010 annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a non-partisan human rights body established by the U.S. Congress.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), an international human rights organization based in London and Brussels, says Indonesia's long tradition of pluralism is in jeopardy.
"Essentially, the rise of religious intolerance in Indonesia has been caused by the infiltration of Indonesia by Wahhabism [the most extreme branch of Islam], largely from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East," explains CSW's Indonesia expert, who cannot be identified for reasons of personal safety.
The Christian community is most harassed in West Java province, Andreas Yewangoe, chairman of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, told ChristianWeek.
While the Christian community has "a very good relationship" with the "mainline Islamist groups in Indonesia," says Yewangoe, small extremist groups employ violence in their campaign to impose Sharia or Islamic law on Christians.
"Militia groups like FPI [Front of Islamic Defender] pose a threat to religious minorities and Indonesia's democracy," wrote Leonard Leo, chair of the USCIRF, in a statement to ChristianWeek.
Even though the constitution recognizes Christianity as one of Indonesia's officially sanctioned religions, government harassment of Christians is common.
Four years ago, the Ministry of Religion issued the Joint Ministerial Decree, which forces religious groups to win the approval of 60 local residents for any plans to construct or expand a house of worship.
According to Human Rights Watch, Muslim clerics and extremists invoke the 2006 decree as "justification for blocking the building and operation of Christian churches."
The ongoing harassment and intimidation of the Batak Christian Protestant Church at Bekasi City, West Java, is the latest manifestation of religious intolerance.
Having been denied a permit to build a church, the Batak congregation gathered in a housing complex to worship. Enraged Muslim mobs demonstrated against the Christians' presence. Local officials responded by banning the congregation from meeting in that location.
The congregation then moved Sunday services to a proposed building site, an open field owned by the church. According to CSW, a mob attacked the Christians during a service in August.
The militant violence escalated September 12, when a church elder was stabbed in the chest and stomach as he made his way to Sunday services. When Reverend Luspida Simanjurtak attempted to rescue the elder, she was struck about the head, face and back with a wooden block. Both survived the attack, but were hospitalized.
"Our constitution states that Indonesia guarantees the freedom to all Indonesian citizens to worship based on their faith or belief, without any discrimination," says Yewangoe. "However, what has happened clearly show us that the government in Bekasi is violating the constitution."
So far this year, reports the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, 30 churches have been attacked in Indonesia.
When Obama visits Jakarta later this month, says the CSW expert, "he should give Indonesia credit for its long tradition of religious freedom and pluralism enshrined in the Pancasila, but should warn Indonesia that this is under threat."
Canadian Christians can help by praying for the persecuted church in Indonesia, says Yewangoe. He also urges Canadians to lobby the Canadian government "to push the Indonesian government to strengthen the law enforcement in Indonesia, without any discrimination."
"Meanwhile," says the Christian leader, "we are building a good relationships with the local communities where the churches are."
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