Learning to respect other believers' rights

Learning to respect other believers' rights

Hak Asasi Beragama dan Perkawinan Konghucu: Perspektif Sosial,
Legal dan Teologi (Basic Right to Religion and Marriage of
Confucianists: Social, Legal and Theological Perspectives); PT
Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Jakarta, 1998; Budi Wijaya et al;
ix + 193

YOGYAKARTA (JP): On Dec. 15, 1995, the Surabaya administration
stirred up a national controversy when it refused to register the
marriage of a Confucianist couple, Budi and Lanny.

The local agency in charge of registering marriages of non-
Muslim people argued that Confucianism was not recognized by the
government.

Home Affairs Ministerial Decree No. 477/74054 of 1978 states
that the government recognizes only five religions: Buddhism,
Islam, Hinduism, and the two forms of Christianity, Protestantism
and Catholicism.

The refusal provoked a lively polemic because the 1945
Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The controversy
revolved around the question of how a ministerial decree could
overrule the Constitution on which all other laws are based.

Budi and Lanny filed a law suit in the local State
Administrative Court against the government but then lost the
legal battle.

The Surabaya government's denial of Budi and Lanny's rights
was a glaring violation of the human rights that the Constitution
guarantees through Articles 27 and 29.

Moderate Muslim leader Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid charged
that the government had "sacrificed the universal principle for
the sake of mere administrative trivialities."

Critics charged that the government had abused laws and human
values.

Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid is quoted in this book
as saying that to talk about human rights, one has to be
objective and understand the meaning and purpose of life from a
religious perspective.

Without an understanding of religious teachings, one's notion
of human rights will be hollow, according to Nurcholish (p.27).

Although Budi and Lanny lost their legal battle, sympathy for
them poured in from all quarters: Nurcholish, the National
Commission on Human Rights, Association of Indonesian Muslim
Intellectuals and Gus Dur -- who chairs the Muslim mass
organization Nahdlatul Ulama and the World Conference on Religion
and Peace.

Besides, scholars like Suwoto, Moch. Isnaeni, Haryono, Dede
Oetomo, Ramlan Surbakti, Soetoyo, Soetandyo, I.B. Soesanto and
former Justice Bismar Siregar also lent their support.

The public outcry was eventually heeded by the government and
the House of Representatives. The government offered three
alternatives to solve the problem.

First, Confucianism would be recognized as a religion. Second,
the government would register Confucianist marriages. Third, the
government would provide special registration for people who
embrace a religion other than the five legally recognized ones.

The court's decision in favor of the government in the Budi
and Lanny case made Confucianists really confused. They felt
local government officials treated them unfairly. This worry
received credence when on Sept. 15, 1996 the Surabaya
administration issued a decree, stressing again that Confucianism
was not recognized and warning people against using it for
whatever purposes.

The authors of this book discuss the various possibilities
that cause a misunderstanding about Confucianism, socio-political
sentiment behind racial issues and the phobia of communism
surrounding Indonesia-China relations.

The book gives perspectives on the understanding of the 1945
Constitution's Article 27 which guarantees every citizen's basic
rights and Article 29 which guarantees the citizen's right to
practice the religion of choice.

It demonstrates that the Surabaya case shows the need for
everyone to respect others' rights to a religion of choice. The
Holy Koran (Qs 2:62) states that every religious believer, be
they Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Confucianist or whatever will
receive divine rewards as long as they follow God's way.

The book underlines the need for respect for human rights
without sacrificing universal values. As Christian theologian Th.
Sumartana says, there have been too many people falling victim of
the Indonesian state's policies and the challenge is how to stop
abuses of human rights.

-- Chusnul Murtafiin

The reviewer is a student of the State Institute of Islamic
Studies (IAIN) Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta