"Islamic militants are increasingly mobilising in mobs to attack religious minorities with almost complete impunity."
Source/Credit: Herals Sun | Australia
By Matthew Pennington / AAP | May 24, 2013
THE US has expressed concern over increased attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia, but human rights groups accuse Washington of playing down the problem as it looks to forge stronger relations with Jakarta.
Recent years have seen increased reports of violence and discrimination against Indonesia's hristians, minority Shi'ite Muslims and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect.
The bipartisan Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights held a hearing on Capitol Hill to assess the situation in Indonesia.
The commission's Democratic co-chairman, James P McGovern, cited figures from a Jakarta-based nonprofit, the Setara Institute, that there were 264 violent attacks on religious minorities in 2012, up from 216 attacks in 2010.
Senior State Department official Dan Baer voiced concern over such attacks and ineffective Indonesian government responses, saying that it threatens to tarnish the nation's reputation for religious tolerance.
He also referred to a "disturbing trend" in forcible closures of churches - including 50 in 2012 alone - and of Ahmadiyah mosques.
He called for stronger police action, and legal reforms to signal protection for all minorities.
But Human Rights Watch on Thursday criticised the US response, saying it was refusing to plainly acknowledge in public what its officials admit in private - that religious persecution is worsening in Indonesia.
"Islamic militants are increasingly mobilising in mobs to attack religious minorities with almost complete impunity," John Sifton, the group's advocacy director for Asia, told the hearing.
Indonesia has responded to criticism on its record on religious freedom by saying religious harmony remains strong, and it's unfair to generalise all attacks on minorities as being linked to intolerance.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has emerged as Southeast Asia's most robust democracy since the fall of longtime dictator Suharto, 15 years ago this week.
Read original post here: US challenged on Indonesia human rights
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