Reaction to 'Bias of faith'

In relation to the attacks on Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI), you write that "They create erroneous misperceptions that spur a 'Western' simplification on Islam and terrorism."

I strongly doubt that this Western simplification is the result of the acts of a handful of fanatics: These type of people can be found everywhere. Instead, this Western simplification is rooted in the fact that Indonesia in reality does not have freedom of religion, even though it is supposed to be among the most moderate and tolerant of regimes with an Islamic background.

Take for instance the fact that the number of recognized religions is limited to five and that state-sanctioned authorities determine who are the "real" and the "false" prophets of these faiths, while the four non-Muslim faiths are regularly discriminated against.

Since Indonesia is not a secular state, this also has grave consequences for the human rights and civil liberties of minorities. To give one example: People belonging to an unrecognized faith can't get married. As a result, they are denied their basic rights, and can even -- if they should simply live together -- get into trouble with the authorities. This is not the policy of a handful of fanatics but of the Indonesian state.

In fact, these are actually very recent developments. You also write that "Despite our differing ethnicities, religions and races, Indonesians have always set aside their contradictions and turned their homeland's diversity into a strength."

We know that this is not true if we look, for instance, at the discrimination against ethnic Chinese, and the ethnic and religious conflicts that have occurred across the archipelago. The reality simply is that decades of authoritarian rule suppressed ethnic discord. But just like in Yugoslavia after the disappearance of its centralized authoritarian regime, ethnic and religious conflict could become even worse if Indonesia does not seriously protect and uphold the civil liberties of its minorities.

The questions that "simplistic Westerners" are asking are: Why are the criminals who attacked the JAI not brought to justice? Even Muslim scholars and organizations have criticized the role of the authorities in this drama.

If Islam is basically a peaceful religion and the majority of its followers wouldn't have anything to do with fanaticism or terrorism -- something I don't deny -- then why are the Indonesian authorities in the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government not fulfilling their responsibilities?

BUDHI WIDYATAMA, Vancouver, Canada