Religious Freedom in Indonesia Remains Challenged, Hundreds of Intolerance Cases Recorded Throughout 2025

Jakarta – Religious freedom and belief in Indonesia remains a matter of serious concern. Throughout 2025, various cases of intolerance and violations of religious rights continued to be documented across numerous regions. Although the figures appear somewhat lower compared to the previous year, many observers assess that conditions do not yet demonstrate truly significant improvement.

A report on Religious Freedom and Belief (KBB) throughout 2025 indicates that violations occurring still follow patterns similar to previous years. This suggests that issues of tolerance and protection for religious minority groups remain fundamentally unresolved.

This situation demonstrates the state’s continued weak commitment to maintaining harmonious religious coexistence. “This is concrete evidence that the state has not genuinely committed to preserving national stability through maintenance of tolerance amongst religious communities,” said Halili Hasan, Executive Director of SETARA Institute, when presenting the 2025 KBB report in Jakarta on Tuesday, 10 March 2026.

Throughout 2025, a total of 221 religious freedom violation incidents were recorded, comprising 331 related actions. This figure is indeed lower compared to 2024, which recorded 260 incidents with 402 actions. However, this numerical decline is assessed as not yet reflecting substantive improvement in the overall situation.

Of all cases occurring in 2025, 128 violations were perpetrated by state actors, whilst 197 actions were committed by non-state actors such as community groups or specific organisations.

According to Halili, the persistence of violations repeating over several recent years is inseparable from regulations considered still discriminatory towards religious minority groups. “One contextual trigger for the consistently high number of KBB violations over the past five years is the continued existence of discriminatory and intolerant regulations targeting minority groups such as Christian and Catholic religious groups, and the Ahmadiyah congregation. These regulations continue to be perpetuated in order to restrict the scope for minority groups to practise their religious teachings and rituals. Existing regulations also serve as legitimation tools for intolerant groups to commit discriminatory actions,” he explained.

Beyond the still-high violation figures, the report also highlighted several important trends occurring throughout 2025, including increased contribution of violations perpetrated by non-state actors.