Minister Promises Bill to Protect Religious Minorities

Jakarta Globe, Adelia Anjani Putri, Oct 30, 2014

Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin says all Indonesians should
 be allowed to follow and practice their own beliefs, free from persecution.
(Antara Photo/Mohamad Hamzah)

Jakarta. The lone minister to survive the cut to President Joko Widodo’s cabinet from the previous administration has unveiled plans to draft a bill that would afford unprecedented protection to religious minority groups, continuing where he left off in his battle against rising religious intolerance.

“Over the next six months, we will work on this bill to protect all religious groups, including those outside the six main religions of Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism,” Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, the minister for religious affairs, said at a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

“The bill will protect everyone’s religious right, especially the rights guaranteed by the Constitution,” he said. “First, the right to believe in whatever they choose to put their faith in. There should be a guarantee that everyone is free to choose their own religion or belief. Second, the independence for anyone to practice their belief.”

He added he hoped that “the bill can improve the quality of living in Indonesia.”

Lukman was inaugurated in June, in the twilight of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, following the naming of the previous minister, Suryadharma Ali, as a graft suspect. In the short time since then he has shown a more conciliatory stance than his predecessors on engaging with minority religious groups, including Shiite and Ahmadi Muslims — with whom he held an unprecedented breaking of the fast during Ramadan in July.

Suryadharma, by contrast, was known for his hostility toward these groups, including a public call for the Ahmadis to recant their “heretical” beliefs.

Lukman said the new bill would target the closures and attacks on churches and Shiite and Ahmadiyah mosques, one of the most egregious symptoms of the quasi-institutional discrimination of religious minorities stemming from the near-impossible administrative requirements laid out in a 2006 joint decree from the Religious Affairs Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry for congregations of any faith seeking a permit to build a house of worship.

“The bill will have many implications, including in terms of the permit to build places of worship,” the minister said. “There should be a clearer and stronger regulation for this issue. Of course we need suggestions from the public so we can accommodate their needs and interests.”

One of the requirements stipulated in the joint decree is for applicants to get the signed approval for their house of worship from the heads of 60 neighboring households of a different faith. In Muslim majority Indonesia, Christian, Shiite and Ahmadi applicants have almost invariably failed to get the required number, while a few cases have been reported in parts of eastern Indonesia, which has a large Christian population, of Muslims not being allowed to build mosques.

Lukman also promised to address the long-running issue of Shiite and Ahmadi communities being driven from their homes by mobs of Sunni Muslims — often with the support of the local police.

“It’s a complex problem,” he conceded. “It involves things related to officials like the police, issues with local governments, problems within the local community, and admittedly, problems related to religious beliefs.

“The steps taken should be integrated and not partial. We’re working on it. Now we’re communicating intensively with local governments where refugees [of religious pogroms] are staying. Hopefully we can come up with the solutions,” Lukman said.

He added his ministry would also work with local Islamic clerics — who are often instrumental in inciting hostilities against minority groups — to get them to embrace religious tolerance.

“We’ll hold interfaith forums for religious teachers to make sure that everyone has the same standing,” he said. “Even though we have different beliefs, all religions teach the same lesson of promoting humanity — making humans human.”

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version) 

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."