HNW Highlights Rising Islamophobia, Urges OIC to Initiate Global Regulation
Vice Chairman of the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly Hidayat Nur Wahid attended an event organised by GNAI (National Anti-Islamophobia Movement) commemorating the International Day Combating Islamophobia at the DDII Building (Indonesian Islamic Preaching Council) in Jakarta yesterday.
Since 15 March 2022, the United Nations has established by consensus that 15 March shall be designated as the International Day Combating Islamophobia, following a proposal from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) presented by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. The day continues to be commemorated annually as an effort to address suspicion, fear, discrimination, hate speech and injustice directed towards Islam and its followers.
To ensure the UN decision has genuine positive impact and given the rising prevalence of Islamophobia, Wahid urged the OIC to follow up the International Day Combating Islamophobia with anti-Islamophobia regulations in Muslim member states of the OIC, the international community and UN member states.
“The OIC proposal was approved by consensus at the UN General Assembly, establishing 15 March as the Day Combating Islamophobia. However, this positive outcome must continue to be monitored and acted upon to be effective, and must not remain merely a decision on paper and ceremonial gesture,” Wahid said in a statement on Monday (16 March 2026).
Furthermore, Wahid urged the OIC to take the initiative to encourage each member state to enact regulations, particularly at legislative level, addressing anti-Islamophobia.
“This can begin with OIC member states to institutionalise this commemoration, and I support Indonesia becoming a pioneering OIC member state that initiates such regulation, especially given Indonesia’s stance as conveyed by the Religious Affairs Minister, who strongly supports the existence of the International Day Combating Islamophobia. And if this materialises, or concurrently with it, the OIC should campaign it to UN member states that have already approved the UN Resolution establishing the International Day Combating Islamophobia,” he explained.
On this occasion, Wahid also appreciated GNAI for annually commemorating the International Day Combating Islamophobia. He encouraged GNAI to be more active and effective, whether by proposing an Anti-Islamophobia Bill to Parliament or presenting it to the Religious Affairs Minister, so that the Government through the Religious Affairs Ministry takes the initiative to propose an Anti-Islamophobia Bill. Wahid also promised full support from his faction in Parliament, namely the PKS Faction.
He also emphasised the importance of regulation alongside law enforcement and justice factors. In several Western countries, anti-Semitism laws (laws against hatred directed towards Judaism and its followers) have been enacted, so it is equally fitting that similar rules be legislated and implemented for Islam and its followers. Moreover, since the UN designated the Day Combating Islamophobia, Islamophobic practices have not decreased but rather increased.
Wahid cited the situation in the United States, where several parliamentarians have formed the ‘Sharia-Free America Caucus’, one of which proposed an extreme regulation that, if passed, would ban Islamic practice in the United States. Even one Republican member of the US Congress, Andy Ogles, has openly stated that Muslims have no place in the US.
Such Islamophobic statements are frequently rejected by many other members of the US Congress, because in reality, the US Constitution protects religious freedom as part of human rights, and historically, Muslims had inhabited the American continent before Columbus and other white immigrants arrived.
“Such attitudes and statements clearly demonstrate hatred towards Islam, and fall into the category of Islamophobia. Supposedly, in countries that claim to uphold democracy and respect for human rights, such hate speech statements should be regulated by law enforcement, as they do against those accused of anti-Semitism,” he said.
Wahid stated that if anti-Islamophobia regulations could be campaigned for and fought for until successfully enacted in many countries, it is hoped that more severe behaviour that disturbs world order could be reduced.
He further cited examples such as the colonisation and genocide committed by Israel against Palestine, and military attacks on Iran, which can be viewed as stemming from the Islamophobia demonstrated by Israeli leaders, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“More serious crimes would not occur if Islamophobia could be prevented and corrected from the outset. At minimum, so that harmony and friendship may prevail among the world’s people, with justice upheld and discrimination, hate speech and violence against Muslims in Gaza, Palestine and throughout the world corrected. So that the Muslim ummah can continue its noble civilisational mission of being a mercy to all worlds,” he concluded.