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A Brief Historical and Legal Description of Religious Liberty
The Republic of Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945 and joined the United Nations in 1950. The president, the head of state and government, are elected by the People’s Assembly. The House of Representatives holds legislative authority. The U.S. Department of State asserts that Indonesia, “[d]espite a surface adherence to democratic forms . . . remains strongly authoritarian.”1 Ninety percent of Indonesians practice Islam, and the remaining 10% practice either Christianity, Buddhism or Hinduism.2
Although Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim nation, Islam does not have legal preeminence in the country, both because of the nature of Indonesian Islam and because of historical circumstance. Instead, Indonesia’s authoritarian government monitors the practice of all forms of religion. According to Professor Mark Cammack, Indonesian Islam “bears only a superficial resemblance to the ethical prophecy and legalism of its Middle Eastern prototype.”3 The majority of Indonesian Muslims mix observance of Islam with traditional mystical beliefs. For this reason, Cammack explains, “[A]lthough Indonesia is on paper the world’s largest Muslim nation, political Islam has been and continues to be a minority ideology.”4
The Dutch, who colonized Indonesia, were hostile toward Islamic law, threatening the religious liberty of Muslims who believe that Islamic law is sacrosanct and above temporal authority. Islamic courts were subordinate to civil courts during Indonesia’s colonial period It was not until 1835 that the Dutch recognized the right of Islamic courts to decide civil matters such as marriage and inheritance. Cammack explains that “the formal juridical creation of Islamic courts was initially conceived as a device for restricting and controlling the application of Islamic law.”5 When Indonesia declared independence in 1945 (joining the United Nations in 1950), Muslims failed to secure constitutional enforcement of Islamic law for all Muslims. The government is hostile toward possible threats to its authoritarian rule and remains hostile toward the enactment of Islamic law.
The government recognizes Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and traditional mystical beliefs. The U.S. Department of State reports:
the practice and teachings of the other recognized faiths are generally respected. Various restrictions on certain types of religious activity exists. . . . Indonesians practicing recognized religions maintain active links with coreligionists inside and outside Indonesia and travel abroad for religious gatherings. The Government organizes the annual hajj pilgrimage, and more than 100,000 Indonesians made it in 1993.6The government tolerates, and even encourages, the practice of state-sanctioned religions. Yet the state closely monitors religious activity and allows only certain denominations to practice. It requires all organizations, including religious ones, to adhere to Pancasila, the state ideology which mandates belief in a supreme being and therefore forbids atheism.7 The government bans more than 400 “misleading religious cults” such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baha’i, a sect of Islam. According to the U.S. Department of State, “[t]here is no legal bar to conversion between faiths, and conversions occur. However, proselytizing by the recognized religions or in areas heavily dominated by one recognized religion or another is considered potentially disruptive and is discouraged.”8 The government values social harmony above religious liberty, insisting that religious liberty cannot exist without social harmony. Most foreign missionaries work without government interference, but authorities in East Timor have refused to renew the residence permits of some missionaries based on vague “security grounds.”9
Constitutional Provisions and Legislation Relating to Religion
Provisions in the Indonesian Constitution which relate to religious liberty are as follows:
Article 29 (1): The State shall be based upon belief in the One, Supreme God.(2): The State shall guarantee the freedom of the people to profess and to exercise their own religion.10
The 1985 Social Organizations Law requires all organizations to adhere to Pancasila, the government’s official ideology. According to the U.S. Department of State, “[t]his provision, which limits political activity, is widely understood as being designed to inhibit activities of groups which seek to make Indonesia an Islamic state. The law empowers the government to disband any organization it believes to be acting against Pancasila and requires prior government approval for any organization’s acceptance of funds from foreign donors.”11 The government uses this law to supervise and limit the funds foreign missionaries can receive from abroad.
According to the U.S. Department of State, “[l]aws and decrees from the 1970’s limit the number of years foreign missionaries can spend in Indonesia, with some extensions granted in remote areas like Irian Jaya.”12 The government fiercely protects the social harmony of the state and allows foreign missionaries only when they do not interfere with the goals of the state.
Recent Reported Cases of Religious Intolerance
Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International report that serious human rights violations are occurring throughout Indonesia. While neither report violations of freedom of religion, they assert that the government routinely violates freedom of expression, assembly and free speech. Protection of these rights are necessary to ensure religious liberty. The authoritarian government of Indonesia places the same constraints on religious liberty as it does on other fundamental freedoms and political expression.
GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF “DEVIANT” MUSLIM GROUPS The government is authoritarian in its treatment of all religious groups. Amnesty International reported that “at least 50 out of more than 150 Islamic activists, imprisoned for subversion and serving sentences of up to life imprisonment, were also prisoners of conscience” in 1993.13 The U.S. Department of State reports that authorities in West Java banned a Muslim sect in July 1993 when the sect clashed with police, killing five.14
GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF CHRISTIAN GROUPS. While Muslims assert that their religious liberty is inhibited by the government’s refusal to extend the jurisdiction of Islamic law, Christians fear that the enforcement of Islamic law will decrease their religious liberty. News Network International (NNI) reports that inhabitants of Irian Jaya, a remote western province ruled by the Dutch until annexation by Indonesia in 1963, fear that the government’s policies of centralization will lead to nationwide “Islamization.” The population in Irian Jaya is over 80% Christian. Augmenting the fears of Christians was the government´s refusal to provide jobs to 2,000 teachers who were trained in Irian Jaya while other teachers were brought in from outside.15 Education advocate Abner Korwa explains, “These new teachers refused to go to the small, isolated villages, so many villages lack teachers, while many Irian teachers are without jobs. This produces Islamization.”16 The government recently constructed new Islamic schools replacing the once-prevalent Catholic and Protestant schools in the area. In addition, the government is imposing stricter standards for local government officials, requiring them to have more formal education.17
Indonesia’s authoritarian government is not content to allow Christian churches to govern internal church disputes. In December 1992, the military commander of Northern Sumatra intervened in the affairs of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestant Church, Indonesia’s largest Protestant denomination with approximately 2.5 million members, and appointed a bishop to end the church’s leadership crisis. The government asserts that it became involved only after a request from the Central Leadership Council. The government’s action caused a split in the Church, creating conflict between Indonesian security forces and some church members who opposed the bishop’s appointment. In 1976, the bishop was convicted of embezzling funds from the university where he worked.18
At least ten people reportedly have been killed since the church dispute began. In January 1993, the government issued a decree which banned individuals and organizations from discussing the church crisis and appointed its own bishop. According to NNI, the military in North Sumatra detained up to 60 church members who protested against the government’s appointment. In February, an Indonesian court reversed the government’s appointment and replaced him with another bishop. In May, the government arrested four more protesters. NNI reports, “According to a report released by members of the . . . dissident faction, the four [recently tortured while being held in police custody for holding an ‘illegal meeting’] were beaten by police officers with hot iron rods, stones, boots and wooden batons.”19 In June, a church worker was found murdered. He was reportedly investigating an incident in which supporters of the government-appointed bishop forced members of the other faction from their homes and subsequently destroyed them. Summarizing the situation, one Indonesian stated, “The government comes down very hard on anything which appears to be threatening the religious ‘harmony’ of the nation. It’s not an easy time for the church.”20
ENDNOTES
1 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1994): 638.2 Edward H. Lawson, ed., The Encyclopedia of Human Rights (New York: Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1990): 880.
3 Mark Cammack, “Islamic Law in Indonesia’s New Order.” International and Comparative Law Quarterly Vol. 38, Pt. 1 (January 1989): 54.
4 ibid, 55.
5 ibid, 56.
6 U.S. Department of State (1993): 644-645.
7 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1994 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1995): 599.
8 U.S. Department of State (1993): 645.
9 ibid, 645.
10 Gerald A. McBeath and Kerry M. Boyle, “Indonesia,” in Albert P. Blaustein and Gisbert H. Flanz, eds., Constitutions of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1990): 25.
11 U.S. Department of State (1993): 644.
12 ibid, 645.
13 Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1994 (London: Amnesty International Publications, 1994): 161.
14 U.S. Department of State (1993): 645.
15 Paul Marshall, “Irian Jayans Say Policies Undercut Traditional Christians.” News Network International (September 7, 1994): 32.
16 ibid.
17 ibid.
18 U.S. Department of State (1993): 645.
19 Andrew Wark, “Church Worker Murdered in Northern Sumatra.” News Network International (June 14, 1994): 12.
20 ibid, 14.
Source: Handbook on Religious Liberty Around the World, Pedro C. Moreno, Editor. Charlottesville, VA: The Rutherford Institute. This report is reprinted here by special arrangement with the Rutherford Institute and may not be reproduced or mirrored on another webside without written permission of the Rutherford Institute.
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