Police Pledge Hard Line Against Religious Intolerance

Jakarta Globe, Farouk Arnaz, Dec 07, 2014

Sunni Muslims torch a home in a wave of anti-Shia violence in Sampang,
East Java, on Aug. 26, 2012. (AFP Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s National Police have pledged to crack down on violence against religious minorities.

Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny. F. Sompie told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that police would take a harder line against religious intolerance, an issue human rights groups say was neglected by the administration of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Ronny said National Police chief Gen. Sutarman spoke at the police academy in Semarang, Central Java, where he told officers on Friday that: “There can be no more evictions, violence and coercion towards any religious beliefs as stipulated in the 1945 constitution.”

Police would not tolerate any groups who used religion as an excuse to act as vigilantes or attack houses of worship, Ronny said.

“The protection for minority groups, be it religious groups, tribes or races must be conducted optimally,” he said.

Religious intolerance is common in Sunni Muslim-majority Indonesia and often boils over into threats and violent attacks against religious minority groups, or imprisonment of leaders on blasphemy charges.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report in 2013 which documented an increasing number of attacks by Islamic militant groups on houses of worship and members of minority groups. The attacks were carried out most commonly against Ahmadis, Christians and Shia Muslims, the report said.

Yudhoyono has been heavily criticized for allowing attacks to rise over his two-term presidency between 2004 and 2014.

Writing in the Jakarta Globe in August this year, Phelim Kine, the deputy director at HRW’s Asia division, said: “Yudhoyno’s failure to protect religious freedom goes far beyond his acceptance of the depredations of Islamist thugs.”

“On multiple occasions in recent years,” Kine added, “police and government officials have been passively or actively complicit in incidents of harassment, intimidation or violence against religious minorities.”

More recently, Amnesty International condemned the criminalization of beliefs in Indonesia in the past decade.

Rupert Abbott, Amnesty’s research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, told a Jakarta audience on Nov. 21 that the organization supported President Joko Widodo’s stated commitment to human rights, but that the new government had its work cut out for it in a climate of “intensifying intolerance.”

Pope Francis and other religious leaders at the Vatican. Photograph: AP

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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. ...."