According to media reports, Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs is poised to toughen the country’s blasphemy laws, expanding the definition of blasphemy. And that does not bode well for religious minorities in the world’s most populace Muslim-majority country. In addition, the government is considering lengthening the maximum sentence for blasphemy to six years in prison from the current five. The ... Read More »

A new survey conducted by the Ministry of Education and Culture found a surprising number of students supported ISIS and the implementation of nationwide Sharia Law. Tolerance is losing ground in Indonesia’s public schools. The Ministry of Education and Culture surveyed students, teachers, and principals in four schools, two public, two private, about their views on pluralism, diversity, and religious ... Read More »

Govt aims to implement measures to ensure Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia members lose hard-line tag, adopt national ideology The Indonesian government says it intends to re-educate members of a recently dissolved hard-line Muslim group that wants to turn the country into a caliphate. Soedarmo, director-general of politics and public administration at the Ministry of Home Affairs, said something need to be ... Read More »

Hundreds of students in Yogyakarta have conveyed their pledge to uphold tolerance and maintain unity amid growing religious tension and sectarianism. In Bantul, a headmaster of a state high school was reported to have refused to support issues related to tolerance and Pancasila. It was also reported that he initially refused to send his school’s students to attend the Declaration ... Read More »

The Constitutional Court (MK) needs to improve its performance in handling judicial review requests to curb potential misconduct,  human rights watchdog Setara Institute has suggested. Ismail Hasani, the watchdog’s research director, said the longer it takes for the court to process a request, the greater the opportunity for collusion between plaintiffs and justices. He cited the bribery case of former ... Read More »

Uncomfortable bedfellows: The alliance that proved so successful in defeating Ahok may yet unravel Now that ex-Jakarta Governor Ahok has been ousted from power and faces prison, the unifying mission that brought Indonesia’s hard-line Islamic groups together may unravel, Chris Chaplin writes. Over the course of the past nine months, an alliance between political interests and Islamic activists against Jakarta ... Read More »

The conviction and jailing of Jakarta governor Basuki Purnama for blasphemy caps a rising trend of Islamic intolerance Moderate Muslim leaders and human rights groups have renewed calls to scrap Indonesia’s 1965 blasphemy law following last week’s conviction and imprisonment of ethnic-Chinese Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Purnama for his controversial reference to a verse in the Koran. The growing use ... Read More »

The ruling against the Christian governor causes tensions and controversy. The blasphemy is a pretext used to exert social and political pressure on opponents. The court failed to exert its independence, said Surya Chandra.  “Article 156a of the Criminal Code article is elastic,” Antonius Yudo said. “Any opinion or claim other than that of the majority and not in accordance ... Read More »

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Setara Institute recorded 97 blasphemy cases in Indonesia throughout 1965-2017, including the latest case that involved former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok. Surprisingly, most of these cases occurred in the post-reformation era. “Interestingly, the blasphemy cases increase during the information age,” said Setara Institute researcher Halili on Thursday, May 11. Halili further explained ... Read More »

ACTIVISTS SAY GROWING USE OF LAW CURBS FREE SPEECH AND OFTEN TARGETS MINORITIES Indonesia is facing renewed calls to repeal its controversial blasphemy law after the jailing of Jakarta’s Christian governor, with critics pointing to a sharp increase in its use to target minorities. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama—known by his nickname Ahok—was jailed for two years on Tuesday for blasphemy over ... Read More »

Introduction Although six religions are officially recognized in Indonesia, there are hundreds of religions and beliefs in across the country. Some of these are local or mystical beliefs, but there are also other religious groups like Gafatar, Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslims. Intolerance towards these minority groups is on the rise. According to research by Setara Institute, in 2016 there were ... Read More »