Indonesia’s government, security forces and courts must do more to protect religious minorities from growing episodes of intolerance and violence, an international rights group said in a report yesterday.
Human Rights Watch cited a steady increase in brutal attacks over the past few years due to the government’s failure to confront thuggish harassment against Christians, Shiite Muslims and the Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect. It said discriminatory regulations have not only affected those minorities, but also Sunni Muslim communities in some Christian-dominated areas of eastern Indonesia.
Indonesia, a secular country, is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The majority of its 210 million Muslims are Sunni and most practice a moderate form of faith.
Photo: EPA
The New York-based organization called on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy on discrimination and violence against religious minorities.
The government responded to the report by saying religious harmony remains strong in Indonesia, and it was unfair to generalize all attacks on minorities as being linked to intolerance.
The report alleged building permits for houses of worship have been denied, police have failed to stop violent attacks, prosecutors have sought weak punishment and, in two cases, local authorities refused to honor Supreme Court decisions allowing religious minorities to build places of worship.
The 107-page report was based on research between August 2011 and December last year, interviewing 115 people, including 71 victims in 10 of Indonesia’s 34 provinces.
“The Indonesian government’s failure to take decisive action to protect religious minorities from threats and violence is undermining its claims to being a rights-respecting democracy,” said Brad Adams, the group’s Asia director.
The watchdog organization also cited reports from the Jakarta-based nonprofit Setara Institute, which recorded 264 attacks last year, up from 244 cases the previous year and 216 in 2010.
However, Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs Secretary-General Re Bahrul Hayat said a government survey completed at the end of last year showed that religious harmony in Indonesia was still very strong.
“We noted that a few violations happened, but please don’t generalize that intolerance has increased in Indonesia,” he said, adding that in some cases religion is blamed as the cause of conflicts when instead some disputes are motivated by social, political, economic or even cultural or family issues.
He said most religious issues involve the closing or building of places of worship, but it that is not an issue unique to minority religions.
“Not only churches are having problems in gaining construction approval, but also mosques in some areas,” he said. “If they don’t meet the requirements of a permit to build the house of worship, the government’s permit will not granted ... This should be understood by people of all faiths.”
In the Human Rights Watch report, the hardline Islamic People’s Forum and the Islamic Defenders Front were singled out as seeking to justify violence by labeling Ahmadiyahs and Shiites as “blasphemers” and most non-Muslims as “infidels.”
The report highlighted the need to enforce national laws and to map out a comprehensive strategy to combat rising religious intolerance.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not