Hardline groups introduce new strain of intolerance

Hardline groups introduce new strain of intolerance

Indonesia's reputation for pluralism and diversity is under threat by militant ideologues and their supporters, civil liberties activists say

Andreas Yewangoe wants to see more effective steps taken to protect religious tolerance in Indonesia.

"Why can't we live in harmony and peace in this country, where nobody cares about the differences in our religion, race and ethnicity?" the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) chairman told reporters after an incident in which a hardline Islamist group – the Islamic Defenders' Front – blocked a local congregation from worshipping at their church.

"This kind of action is really contrary to the Indonesian constitution," he added.

On May 6th, the congregation of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) Filadelfia gathered for a service, only to be heckled and bullied by FPI vigilantes. The Filadefia branch is at the center of an ongoing local dispute in Bekasi, West Java, over whether it has the right to hold Christian services at its church building.

A journalist at the scene, Rhesya Agustine, said the mob was intimidating women with threats of sexual violence. "They yelled at us by saying 'Rape them! Rape them!' I was so surprised that the situation was so chaotic".

Another reporter at the scene, Tantowi Anwari, was beaten -- allegedly by FPI members angered by a slogan on his T-shirt. It read: "Fight the tyranny of the majority." Police had to rush him to safety.

According to a video recording of the attack presented at a press conference, the attacks were led by Murhali Barda, a former head of the Bekasi chapter of the FPI. He was jailed for five months last year for inciting an attack in September 2010 that culminated in the stabbing of two leaders of the HKBP Ciketing, also in Bekasi.

On Thursday (May 17th), a mob again disrupted worship services at the Filadelfia church, blocking access to the building as parishioners tried to enter in order to celebrate the ascension of Jesus.

"We [the churchgoers and the mob] were only separated by a barricade of policemen who managed to protect us even though the intolerant people were trying so hard to break through the barricade," the Jakarta Post quoted the church's Reverend Palti Panjaitan as saying.

"They threw urine, sewage and frogs at us — all of which also struck the policemen," he added.

The melee was one of several recent incidents involving aggressive action by hardline Islamist groups. On May 4th, two days before the church rioting, members of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council – an organisation linked to convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir – disrupted a book discussion at the Institute for Islamic and Social Studies Foundation in Yogyakarta.

The featured speaker that day was Irshad Manji, a liberal Canadian Muslim activist and author.

"They beat the participants and also my assistant," Manji told the media. "The attackers wore masks and helmets while they beat innocent people and destroyed everything. They are really cowards."

Her appearances in Jakarta also provoked threats and disruption, prompting the author to suggest that extremists are undermining the country's longstanding values.

In a statement to the media, Manji recalled how she visited Indonesia four years ago and found it to be a tolerant, open-minded and pluralistic country. She recounted the experience in her book and suggested that Indonesia was an example for other Muslim countries.

"Unfortunately, things have changed," Manji said.

"Many people told me that the Indonesian National Police and government are powerless towards these gangsters. But Indonesian citizens must not be powerless," she added.

Citizens' groups, meanwhile, are campaigning for better protection of civil liberties. On May 10th, a movement calling itself "FPI-free Indonesia Movement" submitted a petition to the national police, demanding serious action.

Over 1,500 people have joined the campaign, organised via blogs and Twitter.

Lawmaker: Police must do more to protect religious minority groups

Lawmaker: Police must do more to protect religious minority groups

Indonesian police ask minority groups to "give up" to avoid conflict, rather than protecting their rights, legislator charges

The National Police force has not sufficiently improved its ability to protect religious minority groups, experts agreed at a recent Jakarta panel discussion.

Although Muslim-majority Indonesia is a secular country where freedom of religion is protected under the constitution, some religious minorities in recent years have come under attack by hard-line Muslim groups.

Reform measures tend to focus on expanding the central police administration rather than strengthening the capacity of local forces to handle violence against minority groups like Ahmadiyah and GKI Yasmin, said Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of House of Representatives (DPR) and its legislative committee overseeing legal affairs.

In handling such violence, police often emphasise preserving social order over protecting the minority groups, Eva told a meeting at the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club on March 28th.

"Instead of providing protection, police often asked the minority group to give up, to prevent a physical conflict," she said. "They argue that they cannot guarantee [a] radical group will not come back to attack again, as they cannot mobilise and provide protection all the time.

"However, as a law enforcement agent, police must focus on providing a protection of human rights [rather] than accommodating a social order." The Islamic minority sect Ahmadiyah has been a target of deadly attacks in Indonesia, and members of a small Christian parish in Bogor, GKI Yasmin, have been prevented from worshipping in their church.

Congregants celebrated Easter in secret this year, and did not notify police of the location, since police presence did not stop dozens of hard-liners from the Reform Movement (Garis) and the Muslim Communications Forum (Forkami) from disrupting their Christmas services, GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging recently told The Jakarta Post.

"The police were there, but they did not do much to help us. Ever since, we have found no point in telling the police about our activities," Bona said.

Eva said she was frustrated that her colleagues in the House of Representatives often view violence against minority groups as a local matter rather than a law enforcement issue.

"However, it is a must for the police to change their policy and strategy to improve the community police," she said.

Responding to the criticisms, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said police are committed to enforcing Indonesian laws and to pursue anyone who violates them.

Indonesians have the right to form mass organisations, he pointed out, also noting that police investigated Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leaders in 2008.

Known for raiding bars, clubs and gaming halls during Ramadan, the FPI reached a new level of visibility in January when its members threw rocks at the Home Affairs Ministry to protest its decision to annul local laws banning alcohol sales.

"Even nowadays, we are still communicating with FPI leaders to guide them to not violate the law anymore," Boy said, adding that "the FPI are no longer conducting sweeps in night clubs."

He said the police had to work to educate segments of the population who remain unaware of some aspects of the law and human rights within the still-developing country.

Johnson Panjaitan of Indonesian Police Watch urged national police to train local forces in handling religious conflict, especially in regions where the potential for such conflict is high.

Police intelligence must be strengthened to prevent religious conflict in the first place, he said.

Beyond that, the police are hobbled by a lack of action from the government, in his view.

"Sadly enough the state is actually not brave enough to disband a hardline group such as FPI," he said.

"Therefore it needs to be understood that this is not only a police problem but the government's problem as well. And we need to support the Indonesia National Police," he added.

Research conducted by Jakarta's Paramadina University and Gadjah Mada University shows that police were present only 25% of the time in 718 violent incidents between 1990 to 2008.

In 1999, shortly after the end of the Suharto regime, new laws formally separated the Indonesian National Police from the military, which had controlled the force for decades.