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INDONESIA: Failure to provide protection for religious group

May 21, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-108-2008

21 May 2008
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INDONESIA: Failure to provide protection for religious group

ISSUES: Freedom of religion; protection
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding another attack against a religious group by other religious groups in West Java on 27 April 2008. As a result of the attack a mosque was burnt down and other facilities were damaged. The AHRC has previously reported the attacks against the group since 2005, but the government has so far failed to provide protection.

CASE DETAILS:

According to the information received, a group of three hundred people came to the Ahmadiyah village (Kampung Ahmadiyah) in Sukabumi town, Curug district, West Java, in the early morning on 27 April 2008 where an Ahmadiyah religious group was praying. The people gathered were yelling "kill" and "burn" and started to burn down a mosque and some other facilities. No one was reported injured in this incident. However, this incident has been traumatic for the Ahmadiyah people living in the area.

After this attack, the police arrested eight people and detained them, one of whom is known as a chief of the Bumi Asih village located nearby the area where the incident occurred.

The attacks on Ahmadiyah have been increasing since Bakor Pakem (Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society), a board under the General Attorney Office that is in charge of monitoring religious practices in Indonesia, released its recommendation concluding that Ahmadiyah is a deviant sect and urged the government to ban the group from Indonesia by issuing a decree on the banning of Ahmadiyah on April 16, 2008.

Since the recommendation has been made by the board, several civil society organisaitons in Indonesia have strongly opposed it. Meanwhile, other religious groups have used it to instigate violence against the group.

The representatives of the Ahmadiyah along with their lawyers have asked for protection from the police since the discourse of the issuing decree arose on April. However the government has so far failed to provide protection for the group.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Attacks towards the Ahmadiyah group has been going on since 2005 (UA-193-2005) and they continued in 2007 (UA-215-2007). Due to the attacks, many of the group's facilities were vandalized and torn down.

Whenever an attack occurs, police investigate the incident. However, none of those responsible who instigated or mobilise people to attack by force have been prosecuted.

A law no. 1/1965 in Indonesia prohibits anyone from deliberately making interpretations of any of the recognized religions or publicly engaging in activities which deviate from those religions. This law has been mainly referred to as the legal basis for banning a religion. In addition, it has been used by the General Attorney Office under the former regime to pass a regulation, namely the Letter of Decision of the General Attorney Number 108/JA/5/1984 that established the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society. (See further UPI Asia Online commentary)

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities listed below urging them to punish those responsible, ensure the freedom of religion and amend or abolish legislation which deprives people of religious freedom.

Please be informed that the AHRC has also written separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion calling for an intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ___________,

INDONESIA: Please provide protection for religious group

Details of incident: Ahmadyah community in Sukabumi town, Curung district, West Java; a mosque and facilities were burned down due to the attack by other religious group on 27 April 2008; eight persons responsible for the attack were arrested

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding another attack against a religious group by others on 27 April 2008, which has continued since 2005.

According to the information that I received, a group of three hundred people came to the Ahmadiyah village (Kampung Ahmadiyah) in Sukabumi town, Curug district, West Java where the religious group were praying and burned down a mosque and some other facilities.

I am appalled to learn that after the attacks in 2005 and 2007 toward the Ahmadiyah group, there has been no significant effort to protect this group from another attack. While, instead of protecting the group, other religious group were provoked after the recommendation urging the issuance of a decree regarding the banning of the Ahmadiyah group by the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem). I am informed that the police arrested eight people responsible for the damage.

In light of the above, I urge you to punish those persons according to the law after thorough investigations for damage to the mosque and facilities. I further urge you to provide protection for the group so that the people in the community will not receive any further harm or violence from other groups.

I take this opportunity to draw your attention to the fact that as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the government of Indonesia has the obligation to protect freedom of religion of all persons without their being subjected to be coerced to adopt a religion against their belief and conscious. In this regard, I urge you to oppose the recommendation issued by the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society and take necessary steps to ensure the freedom of religion in the country.

Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudoyono
President
Republic of Indonesia
Presidential Palace
Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara
Jakarta Pusat 10010
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 3845627 ext 1003
Fax: + 62 21 231 41 38, 345 2685, 345 7782
E-mail: presiden@ri.go.id

2. Mr. M. Maftuh Basyuni
Minister of Religion
Religion Department of Republic Indonesia
Jalan Lapangan Banteng Barat
No. 3 - 4 Jakarta 10710
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 3812306, 322697, 361654, 361642
E-mail : pikda@depag.go.id

3. Gen. Sutanto
Chief of National Police
Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 721 8012
Fax: +62 21 720 7277
E-mail: polri@polri.go.id

4. Mr. Wisnu Subroto
Chairperson
Coordinating Board Coordinating Board
for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society
Kejaksaan Agung RI
Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 7221337, 7397602
Fax: + 62 21 7250213
E-mail: postmaster@kejaksaan.or.id

5. Mr. Hendarman Supandji
Attorney General
Kejaksaan Agung RI
Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 7221337, 7397602
Fax: + 62 21 7250213
E-mail: postmaster@kejaksaan.or.id

6. Mr. Ifdhal Kasim
Chairperson
KOMNAS HAM (National Human Rights Commission)
Jl. Latuharhary No. 4B Menteng
Jakarta Pusat 10310
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 3925230
Fax: +62 21 3151042/3925227
E-mail: info@komnasham.or.id

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-108-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.