Sang Timur affair exposes government discrimination

Sang Timur affair exposes government discrimination

Pandaya, Jakarta

In recent years Indonesia has sadly been witnessing a wide
variety of religious conflicts that have corroded the glue that
keeps this multiethnic, multireligious nation together.

Sectarian flare-ups have been occurring throughout the
archipelago at higher frequency and magnitude. One major shock
came in 1996 with the burning of churches in Situbondo, East
Java. A few years later we were hit with the deadly Muslim-
Christian conflicts in Maluku and Sulawesi. On Christmas Eve
2000, over a dozen churches in almost all major cities were
simultaneously bombed, killing many of the Christian worshipers
inside.

This year, the increasingly volatile interreligious
relationships have again been put to the test with the forced
closure of a church at the Sang Timur Catholic school and the
subsequent blockage of the school by a group of local Islamists
in Karang Tengah, Tangerang, just outside Jakarta.

The incident, right on the capital's doorstep, following the
revocation of the official permit to use the premises for worship
services, has provoked quite a lot of heated debate on the
freedom of religion as guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution.

This time the government can no longer sweep the discord under
the carpet and pretend nothing serious happened, because the
media has exposed it.

While the problem remains unresolved, (a concrete wall erected
by Muslims, is still in place, and 9,000 Catholics have nowhere
to worship) people wonder if religious tolerance will ever become
something of the past.

The Sang Timur incident, in which members of the Islamic Youth
Front of Karang Tengah forcibly broke up Sunday mass on Oct. 3
and demanded the services be stopped for good, was an ugly
display of religious discrimination, in which the majority
bullies the minority and the state just lets it happen.

The local Muslim residents appointed themselves the sheriff on
the pretext that they were legally enforcing the disputed 1969
joint ministerial decree that requires local residents'
endorsement whenever a place of worship is to be built.

The decree, which the new Minister of Religious Affairs M.
Maftuh Basyuni insists on maintaining, remains in force despite
fierce opposition from religious minorities. Under the ruling, it
is practically impossible for the minority to build a place of
worship in the midst of the majority. This ruling also applies in
areas where Muslims are the minority, such as predominantly
Christian Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, South Sumatra, North
Sulawesi and predominantly Hindu Bali.

Obviously, the decree treats the followers of the majority
religion, in any particular area, like a spoiled brat who can do
anything they wish, no matter if what they do in fact gives their
own religion a bad name. Imagine how chaotic Indonesia could be
if Hindus in Bali or Christians in Manado -- both in the majority
-- did the same thing at a mosque or a pesantren?

In Jakarta, Christians bear the brunt of the discrimination
and threats of violence: Building a church is practically
impossible, but they are subject to harassment, or even violence,
if they worship elsewhere. Likewise in Papua, the minority
Muslims find it difficult to get the locals' endorsement for a
mosque.

The Sang Timur affair only gives credence to the fear of
Islamic extremism that finds fertile ground with the rise of
"political Islam" in this era of political reform. Since the fall
of strongman Soeharto in 1998, those promoting sharia as the
state ideology have come out in the open without fear of
persecution. Along with them came the extremist groups like FPI
(Islam Defenders Front) cashing in on weak law enforcement and
taking the law into their hands in the name of religion.

Again, the Sang Timur affair is a case that illustrates how
the government becomes part of the problem when there is
religious tension. The revocation of the permit to use the
school's hall for worship, after 12 years of letting them do it,
serves as a bad example of public policy making. It clearly
smacks of systematic discrimination against the minority and
reduces the government's assurances of respecting pluralism to
cheap, empty slogans. Above all, such a forced closure of a place
of worship is not only against the Constitution, but also a
blatant abuse of human rights.

The bizarre policies that have provoked the problem also
proves that state intervention in religious affairs often ends up
in disaster because such policies, alienates the minority and
solves problems in favor of the majority.

While the joint ministerial decree continues to stir up
dangerous religious sentiment, another debate has been brewing
over a bill on "religious harmony" drafted by the ministry of
religious affairs during the Megawati regime. Academics have
warned that if the bill eventually became law, the discrimination
would be more institutionalized and sectarian conflicts would
only worsen.

All the conflicts that come with the weakening religious
tolerance would endanger the international recognition of
Indonesia's reputation as a place to learn religious harmony.

The religious tensions call for intensive interfaith dialogs
which involve people at the grassroots level, where open
conflicts start. The hard work of institutions like the Center
for Peaceful Religious Coexistence (PKUB), the religious ministry
and Interfidei has not yet reached the masses.

The lack of tolerance and mutual understanding has given rise
to suspicions that any initiative by either side would have
"Christianization" or "Islamization" motives.

The Sang Timur affair is the first actual case for the new
administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to handle and prove
his commitment to protecting pluralism in Indonesia. SBY's stand
is yet to be seen -- an interventionist or facilitator.

The author is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post.