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Komnas HAM demands state action on intolerance

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2015

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Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) issued a report on Tuesday demanding the government issue better laws on tolerance and properly enforce existing laws on religious discrimination.

The government-funded commission conducted monitoring on religious intolerance in the country from January to March and decided to issue a quarterly report, instead of an annual one like it had done in the past, as it said the situation was worsening.

In its report, the commission said that although the country already had laws to promote religious tolerance, they were ineffective or poorly enforced.

"The government's inaction [on law enforcement] gives impunity to perpetrators so they will do it over and over again," said Muhammad Imdadun Rahman, a member of Komnas HAM, on Tuesday.

The commission said laws on religious tolerance had been ineffective because they had multiple interpretations and overlapped.

"Take for example the joint ministerial decree, it says the government should accommodate houses of worship. Accommodate what? Accommodate their shutting down or their construction? It's not clear," said Komnas HAM religious freedom desk coordinator Jayadi Damanik, referring to a regulation jointly signed by the Home Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry on guidelines for the construction of houses of worship.

The commission also reported that the government had been very weak in enforcing laws on religious tolerance.

While some cases were clearly regulated in the Constitution, the government did not apply sanctions against perpetrators and even when the government decided to take action, it had a negative impact on the victims of religious intolerance, Komnas HAM found.

The rights body said that what had happened to members of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin congregation in Bogor, West Java, was one example.

The congregation members could not worship freely in their own church because a group of people had opposed the construction of the church.

Instead of allowing the community to worship freely and without intimidation, the authorities shut down the church.

"Indonesia has ratified the ICCPR but some minorities cannot freely express their own faith," Jayadi said, referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), an international standard on individual rights.

Another example of victims experiencing the negative impact of law enforcement is the Shia community in Sampang, Madura, East Java.

The Shiites were told to leave their homes because local hardliners campaigned against their presence in the local community. The government, instead of protecting religious freedom, moved the community to a new location for "safety reasons".

In its report, Komnas HAM called the government "insensitive" toward intolerance, which had been worsening in Indonesia.

"Now new cases occur, even before the government has settled the old ones," Imdadun said. "We demand the government to take action before there are any more victims [of intolerance]." (saf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/04/08/komnas-ham-demands-state-action-intolerance.html.