The first week of February marked the annual
celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week, a
UN resolution that aimed to promote religious and cultural
understanding among people of different faiths.
But proceedings were marred by the cruellest of events in Indonesia
with celebrations tarnished by a string of vicious
attacks on the nation's religious minorities.
The most serious attack was waged against the Ahmadiyah sect in Banten
which resulted in three of its members being beaten to death
at the hands of the Islamic Defenders Front, a hardline Islamic group.
The history between the two has been fractious at best
but in recent times the conflict has assumed an internecine edge.
Footage of the bloody attack in Banten on 6 February showed police
officers providing an embarrassingly feeble match for a crowd of 1,500 villagers
equipped with machetes, rocks and bamboo sticks.
Ahmadiyah Muslims believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was Islam's last prophet
and as such find themselves at odds with the Islamic Defenders Front
which has repeatedly called upon local and provincial authorities to disband the sect
in addition to vandalising mosques and physically harassing members.
The group even receives tacit encouragement from members of the Indonesian
government, such as the federal religious affairs minister, who proposed that
Ahmadiyah followers renounce their identification with Islam
and refrain from using Islamic symbols.
Indonesia has undergone a remarkable transition after decades
of repression under the Suharto regime. It can now claim a thriving
democracy, a burgeoning civil society and record levels of economic
growth to its name. It is touted as a bastion of a more moderate
democratic Islam; it has staked its nationhood on a mantra
of "unity in diversity". But Indonesia remains plagued by vast
economic inequalities, disenfranchised youth and porous borders : elements
conducive to encouraging radicalism. Lately
there have been an increasing number of attacks on religious
freedom spearheaded by hardline Islamic groups
who see themselves as the sole vanguard of morality
amid the nation's anxious lurch towards modernity.
The attack in Banten is merely one in a string of attacks
on Ahmadiyah Muslims, which has also
included sect members being driven out of Lombok
and vandalism of Ahmadiyah headquarters in Makassar and South Sulawesi.
But Ahmadiyah followers are not the only target of extremists.
Last week there were reports of vandalism and
firebombing of Catholic schools and churches in Central Java
once again suspected to be the work of the Islamic Defenders Front.
An Indonesian human rights group
the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, reported
that 64 attacks on religious freedom – which include incidents
of physical abuse, preventing groups from performing prayers
and burning places of worship – took place in 2010, a sharp increase
from 18 in 2009 and 17 in 2008.
As religious hate crimes blemish the archipelago's
moderate and tolerant image, the government faces pressure
from human rights groups and disgruntled citizens to enshrine
religious pluralism in law. International groups, such as Amnesty
International, have declared that religious freedom in Indonesia
is "in tatters", while peace rallies have been staged across the nation
urging the government to protect the right to religious freedom.
And still, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been keen
to trumpet Indonesia as a poster-child for unity amid diversity
emboldening a once-fractured nation by its embrace of religious
cultural and ethnic pluralism.
But in the aftermath of all the violence, his remarks ring hollow.
While Yudhoyono has condemned the actions of those responsible
for the killings in Banten, he also implored the Ahmadiyah community
to "respect the joint [ministerial] agreement signed in 2008"
which refers to a decree banning the sect from public
worship and disseminating its beliefs. This decree
coupled with the decision of the Indonesian
constitutional court to uphold a controversial law banning
religious blasphemy, shows that religious pluralism in Indonesia
is far from fully realised. Instead, it reveals that institutional sclerosis
systemically undermines the very values that are
an intrinsic part of Indonesia's national identity.
While these incidences of religious persecution may be specific to Indonesia
their implications are universal. Its struggles for democracy and pluralism
are now being fought by other Muslim-majority nations such as Egypt and Tunisia
Clearly, the Indonesian narrative has much to teach the rest of the world:
it challenges the misconception that moderate Islam and democracy are incompatible
and also shows that Muslim-majority nations are willing to embrace
a more secular brand of nationalism. Of Indonesia's 250 million inhabitants
86% are Muslims, yet presidents from secular political parties
have repeatedly been elected to office.
Of course, Indonesia's transformation also highlights some
inconvenient truths : that the road to progress is a rocky one
and that clashes between competing ideologies are inevitable
Nonetheless, it is how one resolves these clashes that is of greater significance.
If the Indonesian government is serious about maintaining Indonesia's
reputation as a bulwark of pluralism, democracy and moderate Islam
it must realise that its actions will speak much louder than its rhetoric.
