Source/Credit: The Malta Independent
By Bernhard Platzdasch | July 4, 2011
In ‘Indonesia’s Religious Freedom Must Be For All,’ Bernhard Platzdasch of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore, writes that a clampdown on the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect brings into focus the larger context of religious freedom and tolerance in today’s Indonesia
Indonesia has since independence proclaimed itself a religiously devout but tolerant and secular state. Indonesian state doctrine, Pancasila, acknowledges six religions and pledges to treat these faiths equally. They are Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and – the latest entry – Confucianism. Next to these mainstream religions, Indonesia is home to countless non-conformist and syncretist religious movements.
But the question of the legal status and pressure on the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect brings into focus the growing influence of Islamic conservatism on religious freedom and tolerance in today’s Indonesia.
Recent surveys clearly indicate that while many Indonesians wish to uphold religious tolerance, they are also decidedly conservative and inclined to maintain the religious status quo, presumably as it would avoid controversy and conflict. Just under half of respondents in a survey conducted by the Indonesian Setara Institute held that they “cannot accept people who are not religious”. Nearly 61 % said they “cannot accept” beliefs other than the six “official religions” under the umbrella of the Pancasila.
Indonesian Islamist groups repeatedly pressured authorities to ban religious expression they deem “deviant” and therefore not acknowledged by Pancasila. Lately, the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect – a movement founded in Punjab, India, in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – has been bearing the brunt of Islamic conservatism. There have been numerous attacks against Ahmadiyah communities throughout 2010 that have continued in 2011.
Like other Muslims, Ahmadis observe the five pillars of Islam: the belief in a single creator and Muhammad’s prophethood, observing the five daily prayers, fasting, alms-giving and — in theory — the pilgrimage, although Ahmadis are banned from visiting Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Ahmadiyah leaders often describe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a teacher and mentor who inspired his disciples to strengthen Islamic proselytising and Islamic teachings.
Ahmadiyah’s opponents assert that the group reveres Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet. They charge that Ahmadis’ own holy book (the Tadzkirah) is an extension and a distortion of the Qur’an, while Ahmadis hold that the book is simply a compilation of revelations Mirza Ghulam Ahmad received during his lifetime. Not merely Islamists, but most leaders of mainstream Islamic organisations, want the government to prohibit Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims and to compel them to form their own religion separate from Islam. But this is an unworkable proposal as many aspects of Ahmadiyah’s religious practices are the same as those of mainstream Muslims.
The stance of most Muslim leaders is reflected in the public’s perception. Almost 61% of respondents in the Setara survey held that they “could not accept Ahmadiyah”. More than 45% want the government to “disband” the group, and 20.7% opted for “limiting its expansion”. A mere 6.1% want the government to “protect Ahmadiyah”.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government has appeared to take the conservative public view as a yardstick for its own actions. Officials have followed the peculiar logic that threats against Ahmadis are reason to act against them. For example, they allowed the closure of Ahmadiyah-owned mosques to forestall “anarchic activities” by the local population.
A deeper cause for the problems of the Ahmadis is the Indonesian law, which is not clear-cut and absolute in its protection of religious freedom. One vital law considers the “Prevention of the Misuse or Desecration of Religion.” It says that “Every person is prohibited from deliberately speaking about, recommending, or lending support to interpretations of a religion that is adhered to in Indonesia or participating in religious activities that are similar to those of a religion, interpretations and activities, which deviate from the central teachings of that religion.”
Such language encourages conservatives to attack religious communities deemed as “heretic” or “deviant”. Most leaders of Indonesia’s main Muslim organizations remain firm in supporting those laws preventing the full legal recognition of Ahmadiyah and inimical to full religious freedom. And there has been a strong influence of Islamist civil society groups on the Yudhoyono government, which has repeatedly intervened in religious and social affairs despite Indonesia officially being a secular state. In dealing with the Ahmadiyah issue, the government must now honor Indonesia’s claims to tolerance.
Dr. Bernhard Platzdasch is a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore.
This piece is part of the series “ Religion & the Public Space”
Read original post here: Indonesia’s religious freedom must be for all
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