Sunday, February 28, 2010

UN to Take Close Look at Indonesia’s Rights Record

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

February 28, 2010
Anita Rachman & Ismira Lutfia

UN to Take Close Look at Indonesia’s Rights Record

Local and international rights advocates will detail the government’s lack of progress in protecting human rights at the UN Human Rights Council’s plenary meeting in Geneva next week.

Rafendi Djamin, the head of the Human Rights Working Group, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that his group, along with representatives from the Indonesian Legal Resource, were scheduled to present a report on March 8 on the progress made by Indonesia in implementing the human rights recommendations made by the Committee Against Torture and Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture.

The Committee Against Torture in 2008 issued a series of “principals, subjects, concerns and recommendations” to Indonesia on human rights abuse issues in the country. These issues included torture, the ill-treatment of and insufficient safeguards for suspects during police detention, corporal punishments applied by Aceh’s Shariah police, violence against Ahmadiyah and other religious minorities, and the lack of effective investigation and prosecution procedures in the Attorney General’s Office.

The committee asked Indonesia to respond by May 2009, a deadline the government failed to meet.

In November 2009, Felice D Gear, the UN rapporteur tasked to follow up the recommendations, sent a letter to Dian Triansyah Djani, the Indonesian permanent mission head in Geneva, asking about the status of the government’s response to the matter.

Rafendi said the HRWG had asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Justice and Human Rights Ministry about any follow-up on the committee’s recommendations, which focused on National Police internal regulations on human rights, prison improvement programs and the establishment of a national committee on the prevention of torture.

“HRWG regrets that the government has been uncooperative in responding and implementing the CAT follow-up mechanisms,” Rafendi said.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told the Globe on Sunday that the government had failed to meet the deadline to provide the information as requested by the committee.

“No, the report hasn’t been finished, but that task also belongs to other departments, including the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights,” he said.

“The report is being prepared by the relevant departments,” Teuku said.

He acknowledged the Foreign Affairs Ministry was responsible for coordinating and compiling the report, but said he was optimistic it would be ready for submission during the upcoming UN meeting in May.

“We still have three months, I think we can still make it,” Teuku said. “The submission of a progress report is important for us to see the development of human rights issues in the country.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly said last Wednesday that while the United States wanted to increase counterterrorism and military cooperation with Indonesia, it had to be sure that the country was committed to ending human rights abuses.



Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/un-to-take-close-...ghts-record/361206

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

INDONESIA: Freedom of religion not protected

---Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement
 

INDONESIA: Freedom of religion not protected

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-032-2010
February 23, 2010

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

INDONESIA: Freedom of religion not protected

U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Indonesia, the place of his childhood, in March. It is important that the President does not waste this opportunity and uses his good relations with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to raise the issue of religious tolerance in Indonesia.

Late last year Obama External Link - Opens new browser window stated that “Indonesia is important… as one of the world’s largest democracies, as one of the world’s largest Islamic nations… it has enormous influence and really is… a potential model for the kind of development strategies, democracy strategies, as well as interfaith strategies that are going to be so important moving forward.”

(Photo source: Carolincik, 2008, Yogyakarta, flickr)While his statement is no doubt true in some respects, the essence of Obama’s remark is at odds with the current situation in Indonesia.

In recent years the United Nations has expressed disquiet at religious discrimination and intolerance in the country. There is continuing concern at the distinctions made in legal documents between the six recognized religions of Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, and the adverse impact on the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of people belonging to minorities, ethnic groups and indigenous peoples in Indonesia.

In 2007 the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination noted with concern that mixed-faith couples – in which the man and woman hold different recognized beliefs – faced difficulties in officially registering their marriages and that their children were not provided with birth certificates, as they were not the products of “lawful” marriage. Paradoxically, people that change their religion in order to marry their partner can face stigmatization.

Furthermore, there is no provision for individuals with no religious belief to enter into a civil marriage contract, and no legal documentation for those without such a belief. This results in people keeping their atheist beliefs secret and when the time comes to marry, they make the choice of either marrying in a religious ceremony that is devoid of meaning for them, or not marrying at all, which can leave their family and offspring without legal protection.

Moreover, under Indonesian Law No. 23 of 2006 on Civic Administration, individuals are required to record their faith on legal documents such as identity cards and birth certificates. Atheists who ascribe to no religion or those who wish to leave the column blank or to register under one of the “non-recognized” religions face discrimination and harassment - including refusal of employment.

Forcing an Indonesian to adopt a religion as part of her identity grossly undermines his right to freedom of thought and religion under article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Concern has been expressed in Indonesia and internationally about religious minorities such as the Ahmadiya – followers of a disputed branch of Islam – being targeted by fundamentalists that have branded them members of heretical cults. The Asian Human Rights Commission External Link - Opens new browser window and other human rights organizations have highlighted violent attacks and intimidation against the Ahmadiya people and other religious groups, and their places of religious worship. But so far there has been no concerted effort to protect the rights of these groups.

To the contrary, religious intolerance and discrimination is effectively condoned under Law No.1/1965 on the Prevention of Religious Abuse and Blasphemy, which amends the Indonesian Penal Code (Article 156 (a)) to allow the state to prosecute people deemed to commit blasphemous acts which “principally have the character of being at enmity with, abusing or staining a religion adhered to in Indonesia”. The maximum penalty is five years imprisonment.

To combat this law and the issues of state-authorized religious intolerance within it, human rights groups have gone to the Constitutional Court to seek a judicial review of the law, in the hope that it will be struck down as incompatible with human rights and freedom of religion.

However, state officials have reacted against the review. They claim that if the court were to uphold freedom of religion and expression, as guaranteed in international and domestic law, as well as in the principles of Pancasila External Link - Opens new browser window, the official philosophical foundation of the Indonesian state, it would create “unlimited religious freedom.” They fear this could lead to social upheaval, with people worshiping in ways not authorized by the state. Such intolerance is clearly a breach of the Indonesian Constitution under Articles 28 and 29 External Link - Opens new browser window.

The state, by only recognising six religions and enforcing a blasphemy law which alienates and criminalises those that hold beliefs outside of those six, is in effect, giving Indonesians a choice between one of six religions. The right to choose between one religion or another is a false choice and only creates the illusion of freedom.

Both President Obama and President Yudhoyono should understand very well that tolerance and acceptance of varying beliefs, including atheist belief, are vital for a peaceful, democratic society. Practices and laws requiring people to adopt a faith that they do not actually hold is not in accordance with the principles of tolerance, equal rights and non-discrimination, which are the cornerstones of democracy and human rights.

Any blasphemy law should be struck down as unconstitutional. The religions that Indonesia’s blasphemy law seeks to protect can withstand criticism and do not need the full force of the criminal law to ensure adherence. No state should interfere in the practice of religion or belief other than to protect the rights of individuals to freedom of expression, assembly and thought including the right to be free from religious thought.

In a diverse democratic society that prides itself on being multicultural, multi-religious and multi-racial, the Indonesian government should welcome this judicial review and enforce laws to prohibit discrimination based on faith.

In a democratic Indonesia which seeks to adhere to the rule of law and the supreme law of its Constitution, the state should seek to protect the rights of religious minorities from the tyranny of those that wish to foster intolerance and discrimination.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.


URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/2430/

Court Chief Refuses Blasphemy Law Petition From Muslim Schools, Leaders

--- Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

February 23, 2010
Camelia Pasandaran


Court Chief Refuses Blasphemy Law Petition From Muslim Schools, Leaders


Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD on Tuesday refused to accept a petition against annulling a blasphemy law because the petition’s organizers — several Islamic boarding schools and a forum of Muslim leaders from Madura — had not followed proper procedures.

“They arrived as a delegation,” Mahfud said. “I received them and spoke with them. However, such aspirations must be conveyed during court proceedings, inside a courtroom, and not directly to a judge,” he said.

The 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion is currently the subject of a judicial review after it was challenged by the late President Abdurrahman Wahid last year on the grounds it was being misused to intimidate minority religions.

Mahfud told representatives of the schools and the Muslim leaders that their aspirations must be conveyed via organizations legally involved in the review.

“Please hand over your thoughts and aspirations to organizations involved in the case. If you are in favor of the law, hand it over to the government or official groups that are in favor of the law,” Mahfud said.

He also said the court would never invite expert witnesses to give testimony in regard to the review.

“We do not invite. It is requested by applicants and we oblige. If expert witnesses from Mecca are presented, we will accept them. Even if expert witnesses from hell are presented, we cannot refuse,” he said.

The review applicants have requested that the court hear testimony from W Cole Durham Jr, a human rights and religious freedom advocate from Brigham Young University in the United States, Mahfud said.

He said the petition organizers had argued the law should not be annulled because matters of religious blasphemy would fail to be legally regulated.

“The public would then resort to using their own version of the law [street justice], which would be chaotic. Actually, this opinion has been presented in previous hearings,” Mahfud said.

The judicial review was filed by several people and organizations, including Wahid.

According to Choirul Anam, a lawyer representing the applicants, the law is unconstitutional because it only recognizes six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

The law bans people from publicly espousing other religious views or following non-mainstream interpretations of one of the state-sanctioned religions, he said.

The Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace recently expressed concern over the use of the law to justify violent acts against minority groups that interpret religious tenets differently, such as the Ahmadiyya Muslim minority sect.

Mahfud said the petition organizers had also asked him to hold a theological meeting to discuss the law.

“We are not theologians. The conclusions taken in court are about law and will be based on legal conclusions, not theological ones,” he said. “We hold on to the truth, based on the law.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/court-chie...lim-schools-leaders/360410

FPI Hard-Liners Heckle Scholar Over Religion Law

--- Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

February 17, 2010
Ulma Haryanto


FPI Hard-Liners Heckle Scholar Over Religion Law

An Islamic scholar and lecturer from Jakarta’s Paramadina University was jeered by members of a hard-line Islamic group at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday when he dared to draw a comparison between the Prophet Muhammad and the leader of a sect who claimed to be the bride of the Archangel Gabriel.

Luthfi Assyaukanie, who is also cofounder of the Jakarta-based Liberal Islam Network, told the court, which is reviewing the controversial blasphemy law, that the Prophet had initially been persecuted when he first started preaching his faith.

He then compared this to the treatment of Lia Aminuddin, the leader of the Kingdom of Eden sect who was jailed last year for blasphemy. “Some people think she is crazy and even persecute her, just like the Prophet Muhammad in the beginning,” Luthfi said.

His statement immediately provoked vocal protest and abuse from members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), who had filled up more than half of the courtroom.

The court hearing comes during the fifth phase of the judicial review into the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion. Dating back to the last years of President Sukarno, the law was challenged by the late President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid last year for being misused to intimidate minority religions.

Undeterred by the jeers, Luthfi said the state should never side with a particular religion or criminalize worshipers who held different beliefs.

“What if the majority of the country’s population followed Ahmadiyah?” he asked, once again inviting shouts of anger from the crowd. He was referring to the controversial minority Islamic sect that for years has suffered from discrimination and had their mosques burned down by hard-line Islamic groups.

“I’m sure that both Sunni and Shia followers each believe that they are the most correct and true,” Luthfi added, referring to the two main branches of Islam.

“The problem with our Constitution is that it allows the religious majority power to do anything in the name of defending their religious rights. We have seen, during violent attacks, it’s usually started by the majority who think they have the right to do it.”

Toward the end of Luthfi’s testimony, presiding judge Mahfud MD had to reprimand the court spectators for their continuous shouting.

Ifdhal Kasim, chairman of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), who also appeared as a witness at the hearing, said the state needed to limit itself from interfering in religious matters.

“The right to be religious and to practice one’s religion is a Constitutional right,” he said, adding that the government should draw the line only when it came to four issues: public safety, public order, morality and if human rights are threatened.

The government, Ifdhal said, was obligated to protect the rights of its citizens through the legal system.

“We argue that Article 1 of the 1965 Law crosses the line on the right to religious belief because it prohibits people from having their own interpretations of religion,” he said.

Lutfi Hakim, legal counsel for the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said Ifdhal’s testimony was unconvincing.

“And furthermore, the four things that you mentioned, were more or less the same with what is written in the judicial review request,” he added.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/fpi-h...er-religion-law/359299

Public Debate Targets Police Inaction on Religious Violence

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia

February 16, 2010
Ulma Haryanto


Public Debate Targets Police Inaction on Religious Violence

Alleged police indifference to violence targeting religious minorities was questioned on Tuesday during a public discussion in Jakarta held by civil-society organizations about the prospects for reform.

“Violence in the name of religion often happens in front of the police. But they just stood there while somebody was being flushed with acid,” said Malik, a member of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

“How could they just stand there while a church was being vandalized, a mosque being burned? It seems that the police officers were impotent when facing such tragedies.”

In response, Insp. Gen. Imam Soejarwo, National Police chairman for bureaucratic reform, said the police saw everyone as equal before the law.

“If we did nothing, it’s because we were concerned about the possibility of bigger calamities if we jumped in to intervene,” he said, adding that situations may have made it impossible for the police to take firmer action.

A report released this month by the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace revealed that 200 violations against freedom of worship were reported to state agencies in 2009.

On Monday, members of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) forcibly closed Galilea Church in Bekasi, alleging that the congregation had been trying to convert Muslim residents. Police were only seen guarding the premises on Monday after the incident.

Syafi’i Anwar, executive director of the International Center for Islam and Pluralism, told the Jakarta Globe that police officers are often indecisive when it comes to such acts.

“They think that it would violate human rights if they did something,” he said. “They also tend to think that the Indonesian Ulema Council [MUI] should take care of it. Police officers in the field should be given the understanding that violence, even though based on religion, is in itself a violation of human rights, so it has to be stopped.

“The violence toward the Ahmadiyah and churches is not right in any way, and the police should not just stand there because some religious majority said the other faiths are wrong.”

Setara’s report identified the Ahmadiyah sect of Islam as the most persecuted community in the nation, victimized in 33 cases recorded in 2009.

Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the reform strategy included using police “as an instrument to support human rights.”

Bambang Widodo Umar, a former police officer who is now an independent police expert, said reform has to be applied to the police education system.

“In my time, we never heard of education about minority rights, gender equality. We heard of it but we never really learned anything about it,” he said.

“This is why the concept of ‘human security’ [instead of the old state security] has to be taught in police academies to respond to the challenges of becoming a modern democratic country.”

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/public-deb...-on-religious-violence/359066

Friday, February 12, 2010

Govt warned against amending blasphemy law

---The News International, Pakistan
Friday, February 12, 2010, Safar 27, 1431 A.H
Govt warned against amending blasphemy law

By Our Correspondent
LAHORE

Leaders and representatives of over 30 religious parties of the country, while reiterating the universal stance of Muslim world that blasphemy of any kind was liable for death punishment, have stressed that neither rulers nor legislature or any court had the power to amend blasphemy law.

Addressing an All Parties Tahaffuz Namoos Risalat Conference under the aegis of Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) on Thursday, these leaders regretted that pro-west ruling elite of Pakistan had been from time to time trying to amend blasphemy laws. They warned the government that a movement would be launched in case rulers tried to carry out such unholy designs. They warned rulers against unholy wishes and asked them to rein in Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and some ministers who had been issuing irresponsible statements creating unrest.

The leaders also demanded President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to explain their position on the issue. The conference chaired by JUP secretary general Qari Zawwar Bahadur also warned rulers against giving lukewarm response to the deliberate and blatant blasphemies committed by the European press in the name of freedom of expression, saying it an organised attempt to enrage sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims and violating their religious freedom.

Mufti Ghulam Sarwar Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Khan Qadri, Pir Qutubudding Faridi, Raghib Hussain Naeemi, Engr Salimullah Khan, Ahmad Ali Kasuri, Safdar Shah, Pir Athar Qadri, Khalid Habib Elahi advocate, Maulana Tahir Tabassum, Khadim Hussain Khurshid Azhari, Mufti Gul Ahmad Atiqi, Safdar Ali Qadri, Abdul Shakoor Rizvi, Nawaz Kharal, Khadim Hussain Mujahddedi, Ghulam Shabbir Qadri, Prof Ahmad Raza, Ziaul Mustafa Haqqani, Abid Hussain Gardezi, Mian Ashraf, Shahid Gardezi, Naeem Tahir Rizvi, Pir Gulzar Saifi, Bashir Ahmad Yusufi, Bashir Ahmad Nizami, Naseer Noorani, Mansoor Jamaati, Tahir Dogar, Saleem Awan, Mufti Tasadduq Hussain, Rana Rehmat Ali and others attended the conference.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Who and what defines blasphemy?

---The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Headlines  Thu, 02/11/2010 10:01 AM

Who and what defines blasphemy?

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Religious leaders and experts testified Wednesday on what and who defines blasphemy, in the second hearing of a judicial review request of the 1965 Blasphemy Law.

Rev. Franz Magnis Suseno, a Catholic intellectual and professor, was the only expert witness from the petitioners’ side.

While blasphemy refers to “deviant teachings” in the law, Franz Magnis said it was “relative”.

“It means that one has gone from the right path to another that is not.

“Those who use this word are people who feel they are right.

“One group may find another group’s teaching as deviant, but the latter may also affirm it is the former’s teaching that is deviant,” he said.

Franz argued that the state should not have a say in determining whether a teaching was deviant.

“The state cannot say which is true between, for example, Catholics and the Jehovah Witnesses, even if the Catholics have a hundred more followers than the latter,” he said.

The government’s meddling in religious affairs was among issues raised by petitioners of the judicial review request, which comprise of several NGOs and promoters of pluralism.

In January, they requested the Constitutional Court review several articles that they said discriminate d against minority religious groups.

The articles, they said, regulate the government’s authority to dissolve religious groups whose beliefs and practices were deemed blasphemous by religious authorities.

Under the law, the government also has the authority to charge leaders and followers of suspected heretical groups with an article in the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of a five-year jail term.

Article 1 of the law stipulates that it is illegal to “intentionally publicize, recommend or organize public support for a different interpretation of a religion practiced in Indonesia or engage in a religious ritual resembling another’s religion”.

It also says that “practicing an interpretation of a religion that deviates from the core of that religion’s teachings” is illegal.

The chairman of the country’s largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, Hasyim Muzadi, who came as the government’s expert witness, said the law did not violate freedom of religion, as petitioners feared.

“In fact, the minority [among religious communities] will be the ones who will suffer more if the law is revoked,” Hasyim said.

Revoking the law would likely lead to national instability, he said.

“Religious tolerance, which we have been building for a long time, will be disrupted,” he told the court.

Outside, hundreds of people from Muslim mass organizations staged a rally against the request for the judicial review.

Another testimony was from senior journalist Arswendo Atmowiloto, who spent four and a half years in jail after the Monitor tabloid, where he was editor-in-chief, released in 1990 results of a popularity poll that ranked Prophet Muhammad in 11th place, below himself.

“That’s in the past,” he said.

“But what is pertinent is the interpretation of ‘blasphemy’ in Indonesia.

“I did not know then that comparing Muhammad to other humans was blasphemous.”

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/11/wh...s-blasphemy.html

Blasphemy law, a shackle to the Indonesian people

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Opinion   Thu, 02/11/2010 11:16 AM

Blasphemy law, a shackle to the Indonesian people

Tobias Basuki, Jakarta

Indonesia, the third-largest democracy in the world, may be facing gloomy days ahead. In December 2009, the late former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid led a coalition of civil society organizations in filing a judicial review against the archaic blasphemy law (PNPS No. 1/1965). A move to abolish this problematic law would expectedly further consolidate Indonesia’s democracy, freedom and harmony.

Unfortunately there is strong resistance from the government and several religious and social groups against this move. Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali and Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar officially rejected this judicial review.

On Feb. 4, Suryadharma Ali met with leaders of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) to talk about the judicial review.

This is an unbelievably disappointing move by a government official of his stature.

The FPI is a militant organization and the HTI is a global organization whose aim is to combine all Muslim countries into a unitary Islamic state or caliphate. The HTI is an organization that is even banned and proscribed in many Arab and Islamic countries.

The FPI, and particularly the HTI, should not have a say on matters of the Indonesian people. The HTI does not represent the interests of the Indonesian people and our nation.

The argument proposed by defenders of this blasphemy law, is that the law is meant to maintain harmony and peace among religions. Forgive me for saying this: “It is complete baloney!”

This PNPS No. 1/1965 has been the ground on which the Criminal Code (KUHP), article 156a, rests. This KUHP, instead of maintaining peace and harmony, has been the umbrella under which various militant groups attack, burn and destroy others.

A recent example is the case of Welhelmina Holle in Masohi, Central Maluku, in December 2008. There were accusations and rumors that Holle, an elementary school teacher, had been offensive about a religion in one of his lectures in class.

As a result, a mob ran amok and destroyed 67 houses, a house of worship, and a community building. Hole was put on trial under the pretext of that law.

It is the existence of the blasphemy law that ignites conflict. It does not maintain harmony and peace.

The blasphemy law is just problematic on so many levels. Ironically it appears that many support it.

Newspaper reports regarding the blasphemy law may seem to picture a widespread rejection to the judicial review. But it is important to take this with a grain of salt. Opposition to the judicial review is only proclaimed by heads of institutions and a mob of “radical” groups with loud voices.

Most Indonesians are perhaps rather oblivious or rather ignorant regarding the case. Considering it is not on the headlines and the complicity of jargons used in the case.

However, we can be sure if explained properly, the public will want the abolition of the blasphemy law.

Not only is this law problematic sociologically as illustrated above. It is in direct contradiction to our Constitution.

Indonesia is a unitary state. The highest law of the land is the Constitution (UUD 1945), and all the laws under it should be in line with the Constitution.

On the same token all the lower laws of the land should also not contradict each other.

An important point to note is: our Constitution protects religious freedom to its citizens as individuals, not the freedom for religious groups to bash on others.

Article 28E on freedom of religion clearly states that each person/human/citizen has the right to choose and believe according to their conscience.

In 2008, Indonesia ratified an International Convention on discrimination and passed a law to abolish Racial and Ethnic Discrimination (UU PDRE).

This law rules that no one can be discriminated based on their beliefs, values or rituals that belongs to their group (articles 3, 4).

In short, the antiquated blasphemy law is no longer needed. It violates the Constitution and is also in contradiction to a law of equal stature (UU PDRE).

In 2007, Hudson Institute published a comprehensive study on freedom of religion around the world. The study ranked countries in the same manner as Freedom House’s rankings. A country is ranked from 1 to 7, 1 being most free and 7 not free or repressed. Indonesia was ranked at 5 (partly free).

A surprise and disappointment, particularly considering Malaysia was ranked at 4. At that time I did not agree with the classification given by Hudson Institute.

Regardless of the various horizontal conflicts (cited by Hudson as reason for the low ranking of Indonesia), it did not make sense that Indonesia is less free in terms of religious freedom compared to Malaysia.

But today, I think Hudson Institute was accurate after all.

Although the blasphemy law case has not hit headlines in local newspapers, the International Community observes us closely. For example, the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty has submitted an amicus brief in support of the judicial review to the Constitutional Court.

The deterioration or progress of freedom in Indonesia is important not only to Indonesians but also to the world.

We do not and should no longer live in the Dark Ages where blasphemy laws, inquisitions and burning of heretics are part of society. Indonesia is a religious country based on harmony, peace, multiculturalism and acceptance of differences.

It is important for our leaders to realize that without religious freedom, Indonesia cannot move forward.

Many academic studies show the strong correlation between economic growth and religious freedom. The works of Ilan Alon and Gregory Chase “Religious Freedom and Economic Prosperity” and the extensive studies of Grim and Finke are only a tip of the iceberg of evidences showing that religious freedom is important for a country’s growth and prosperity.

The decision by the Constitutional Court under Mahfud M.D. will be an immensely important one regarding the future of the nation. It will be a very tough decision, considering the amount of political and organizational pressure on the Constitutional Court.

It should have the courage to make a decision based on what is right, rather than submit to pressure. After all Malcolm Muggeridge once said: “only dead fish swim with the current!”

The writer, an alumnus from Northern Illinois University, Department of Political Science, is Director of Research and Studies at Institut Leimena.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/11/blas...ckle-indonesian-people.html

Conservative Sunni activism reemerges in heart of Pakistan

---Washington Post, USA
washingtonpost.com > World > Asia/Pacific
Conservative Sunni activism reemerges in heart of Pakistan
By Pamela Constable
Thursday, February 11, 2010
LAHORE, PAKISTAN – On a narrow lane in a depressed urban neighborhood sits a faded white building, decorated with illustrations of candles, books and a slogan that reads “Love for all, hatred for none.”

The school has been shut for months, its students driven away by a campaign of religious ostracism. On the morning of Jan. 5, its former headmaster, a member of the Ahmedi Muslim sect, was shot dead by two young men on motorbikes. No one has identified Mohammed Yusuf’s killers, but there is little doubt what motivated them.

“We have been here for 35 years, and things were peaceful. Then this new mullah came and started preaching against us,” said Fateh-ud-Din, 32, Yusuf’s son, slumped in an empty classroom. “People started insulting us in the streets. The mosque put up a big sign saying we deserved to be killed. Finally, they came after our father.”

A handful of radical clerics have been whipping up hostility toward Ahmedi Muslims, who believe in a rival prophet, and other minority sects in this large provincial capital. The campaign is but one strand of a broader and potentially more significant trend in the heart of Pakistan: the self-confident reemergence of conservative Sunni Muslim activism.

In recent weeks, even as conservative Sunnis have targeted Muslim minorities, they have also launched a high-profile campaign against Western European laws and practices that they allege are anti-Muslim. They have held peaceful rallies in downtown Lahore, met with journalists and sent delegations to the provincial legislature. Their movement opposes recent bans on veils in Denmark, a prohibition on new minaret construction in Switzerland and the republishing of controversial cartoons mocking Islam in a Norwegian newspaper.

In some ways, the two movements seem contradictory: One shuns and persecutes a Muslim religious minority in Pakistan for believing in a rival prophet; the other decries discrimination against minority Muslim communities abroad. Yet both appeal to religious sentiment to galvanize support even as the nation’s army fights Taliban militants in the northwest tribal regions.

“We are against terrorism and the Taliban, and we don’t want any conflict with other religions, but the West is playing with our emotions and trying to destroy the peace. They are the real terrorists,” said Asim Makhdoom, a cleric from the Jamiat-e-Islami party, who preached against the cartoons and other European actions at a mosque one recent Friday.

Over the past year, a rash of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks across Pakistan have turned public opinion increasingly against Islamic extremism. These activists are trying to appeal to Muslim emotions while distancing themselves from religious violence, even though some have previously condoned it or been linked to terrorist acts.

The driving force behind the anti-cartoon movement is Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a group affiliated with the anti-Indian insurgent militia known as Lashkar-e-Taiba. The militia was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and banned by Pakistan several years ago, but Indian and U.S. officials believe it masterminded a terrorist siege in Mumbai in November 2008 that left 166 people dead.

After the Mumbai attacks, the spiritual leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, cleric Hafiz Saeed, was placed under house arrest. For months, his followers lay low and his spokesmen avoided the press. But with Saeed recently released by Pakistani courts for lack of evidence in the case, his aides and supporters are suddenly accessible and outspoken.

“We believe this is the right time for Muslims across Pakistan and around the world to stand up and show they will not tolerate disrespect,” Khalid Hafiz, a political adviser to Saeed, said in a recent interview. He shrugged off questions about the Mumbai attack, saying that the government had failed to prove its case and that the only surviving attacker, a Pakistani man whom Indian authorities traced to Lashkar-e-Taiba through cellphone calls, was unreliable.

“Why blame us? It is all because we support the liberation of Kashmir,” Hafiz said, referring to the disputed region between Pakistan and India. He insisted that Jamaat-ud-Dawa had cut all contact with Lashkar-e-Taiba and that the group focuses exclusively on education and charity work.

In raising alarms against anti-Muslim discrimination abroad, Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its allies have chosen a distant cause that resonates with Pakistanis nationwide. People here were outraged when a Danish newspaper first published the offending cartoons several years ago, and a TV talk show recently featured two veiled women calling for European governments to “respect civil liberties” and curb “Islamophobia.”

In contrast, the leaders of the anti-Ahmedi movement have seized on an issue that deeply divides Muslims here and appeals to a darker, angrier aspect of religious feeling among poor, jobless and frustrated Pakistanis. Posters outside mosques in Yusuf’s neighborhood tar Ahmedis as anti-Muslim converters – a label that implies they deserve death.

The cleric who led the crusade, Maulvi Mohammed Faridi, is staying in a local police station, receiving well-wishers for tea, until things calm down. In a brief interview there, he denounced Ahmedis as “the worst enemies of Islam.” He insisted that he had nothing to do with Yusuf’s death, but added with a shrug, “If someone got carried away with emotion, what can I say?”

In shops and offices near Yusuf’s former school, some residents expressed contempt for Ahmedis, and several younger men seemed itching to take action. A few older people, however, expressed shame over the hysteria and regret over the killing.

“He was a good man and a good teacher. I sent my children to his school, and no one ever tried to convert them,” said Sahadat Ali 48, a real estate salesman. “I went to his mourning ceremony, but almost no one else from the neighborhood went. When hatred is created in people’s hearts, they stop thinking.”

Note: There is a subtle but serious inaccuracy in this article by Pamela Constable in The Washington Post. While the article accurately conveys about the plight of Ahmadi Muslims and the rise of the conservative extremism in Pakistan, unfortunately the writer attributes an inaccurate belief to Ahmadi Muslims — that they believe the founder of their community, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be a ‘rival’ prophet. This is the same inaccuracy which is falsely attributed to the Ahmadi Muslims by the religious extremists in Pakistan and elsewhere as a pretext to persecute the community. This assumption by Pamela Constable is utterly incorrect.

©2010 The Washington Post Company 

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Indonesia’s Faith Leaders Joining Call For More Religious Freedom

---Jakarta Globe, Indonesia
February 09, 2010
Camelia Pasandaran
Indonesia’s Faith Leaders Joining Call For More Religious Freedom

A noted forum of religious leaders became the latest in a line of organizations supporting the judicial review of the 1965 law on religious blasphemy, pointing out that the government deserved sharp criticism for defending a law that stifled religious freedom but forced citizens to follow only one of six state-recognized religions.

“Religions need no validation from the nation, because they existed long before our great nation was founded. Why should the nation limit people’s beliefs?” said Pastor Johannes Hariyanto, secretary general of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), a group formed by the late former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid. ICRP is the local chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

Johannes’s statements at the Vice Presidential Palace were made a day ahead of the Constitutional Court’s second session on Wednesday to review the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion.

Along with a number of other ICRP leaders, Johannes met with Vice President Boediono on Tuesday to report the conclusions of the group’s national conference in 2009, which include urging the state to strictly monitor how religious bylaws are being misused to threaten and oppress believers of minority sects.

Johannes said the ICRP disagreed with the state’s recognizing just a handful of religions.

“Those who keep faith with God but are not believers of religions acknowledged by this nation cannot get their marriages registered. They can’t obtain birth certificates for their children. They are, after all, entitled to government services, since they do pay taxes. If there are religions being acknowledged, then there will be religions that are not acknowledged,” Johannes said.

He expressed grave concern over the use of the 1965 law to “justify” violent acts towards minority groups that interpret religious tenets differently. As reported previously, Muslim sect Ahmadiyah has for years suffered persecution, violence and the burning down of their mosques by hard-line Islamic groups intent on driving the Ahmadiyah back towards the mainstream.

The 1965 law, which dates back to the last years of former President Sukarno’s rule, was challenged in 2009 by the late Gus Dur, renowned worldwide for his pluralistic beliefs, and several human rights organizations, including Imparsial and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

The petitioners argued that the 1965 law, which carried jail terms of up to five years, was unconstitutional as it inhibited religious freedom by recognizing only six faiths: Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, while rejecting all others. The law also bans people from publicly espousing or gathering popular support for certain religious interpretations.

Hendardi, the chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, one of the plaintiffs, said 200 human rights violations occurred in 2009 because the law was abused as an excuse to intimidate Christians and Muslim sects. It was also used to jail Kingdom of Eden sect leader Lia Aminuddin, who claimed to be the bride of the Archangel Gabriel.

ICRP had recorded 20 violations of religious freedom during the last month alone, most of them occurring in West Java and West Sumatra, Johannes said.

Among the scores of religious-based bylaws across the nation is one that forbids women in Tangerang from going out alone at night without being accompanied by family members, while in Pesisir Selatan district in West Sumatra, female employees and high school girls must wear clothing that meets Islamic standards of dress.

A noted forum of religious leaders became the latest in a line of organizations supporting the judicial review of the 1965 law on religious blasphemy, pointing out that the government deserved sharp criticism for defending a law that stifled religious freedom but forced citizens to follow only one of six state-recognized religions.

“Religions need no validation from the nation, because they existed long before our great nation was founded. Why should the nation limit people’s beliefs?” said Pastor Johannes Hariyanto, secretary general of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), a group formed by the late former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid. ICRP is the local chapter of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

Johannes’s statements at the Vice Presidential Palace were made a day ahead of the Constitutional Court’s second session on Wednesday to review the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion.

Along with a number of other ICRP leaders, Johannes met with Vice President Boediono on Tuesday to report the conclusions of the group’s national conference in 2009, which include urging the state to strictly monitor how religious bylaws are being misused to threaten and oppress believers of minority sects.

Johannes said the ICRP disagreed with the state’s recognizing just a handful of religions.

“Those who keep faith with God but are not believers of religions acknowledged by this nation cannot get their marriages registered. They can’t obtain birth certificates for their children. They are, after all, entitled to government services, since they do pay taxes. If there are religions being acknowledged, then there will be religions that are not acknowledged,” Johannes said.

He expressed grave concern over the use of the 1965 law to “justify” violent acts towards minority groups that interpret religious tenets differently. As reported previously, Muslim sect Ahmadiyah has for years suffered persecution, violence and the burning down of their mosques by hard-line Islamic groups intent on driving the Ahmadiyah back towards the mainstream.

The 1965 law, which dates back to the last years of former President Sukarno’s rule, was challenged in 2009 by the late Gus Dur, renowned worldwide for his pluralistic beliefs, and several human rights organizations, including Imparsial and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

The petitioners argued that the 1965 law, which carried jail terms of up to five years, was unconstitutional as it inhibited religious freedom by recognizing only six faiths: Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, while rejecting all others. The law also bans people from publicly espousing or gathering popular support for certain religious interpretations.

Hendardi, the chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, one of the plaintiffs, said 200 human rights violations occurred in 2009 because the law was abused as an excuse to intimidate Christians and Muslim sects. It was also used to jail Kingdom of Eden sect leader Lia Aminuddin, who claimed to be the bride of the Archangel Gabriel.

ICRP had recorded 20 violations of religious freedom during the last month alone, most of them occurring in West Java and West Sumatra, Johannes said.

Among the scores of religious-based bylaws across the nation is one that forbids women in Tangerang from going out alone at night without being accompanied by family members, while in Pesisir Selatan district in West Sumatra, female employees and high school girls must wear clothing that meets Islamic standards of dress.

Copyright 2010 The Jakarta Globe
URL: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/i...ligious-freedom/357727

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Minority affairs’ minister sees blasphemy law revision this year

---Daily Dawn, Pakistan
Pakistan
Minority affairs’ minister sees blasphemy law revision this year
Sunday, 07 Feb, 20107
WASHINGTON: Pakistan plans within this year to revise its laws against blasphemy, which have long been criticised as a way to abuse minorities, a government minister said.

Shahbaz Bhatti, minister for minority affairs, said religious reconciliation was a little-noticed priority for President Asif Ali Zardari’s civilian government in Pakistan, which lies on the frontline of the US-led war against extremism.

Bhatti, a long-time Roman Catholic activist whose position was given full cabinet status for the first time, said he was speaking with political parties to present revisions to the blasphemy law by the end of 2010.

“This is a democratic government which has a commitment to repeal all the discriminatory laws affecting the rights of minorities,” Bhatti told AFP in an interview in Washington.

“We are using military action to fight terrorism and we are using economic opportunities, but another thing which is important is that we are pursuing interfaith harmony,” he said.

Bhatti said that while he did not envision an immediate repeal of blasphemy laws, the revision would require judges to investigate cases before they are registered — creating oversight of the police, who are often accused of abuse.

The revised law would also assign punishment equivalent to that under the blasphemy laws for anyone who makes a false complaint, he said.

Bhatti was in Washington to attend the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual Christian-organised gathering drawing national leaders. He also met with US lawmakers, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s law against blaspheming Islam carries the death penalty. While no one has ever been sent to the gallows for the crime, activists say the law is used to exploit others out of personal enmity or business disputes.

In June last year, blasphemy allegations led to mob violence against Christians in Punjab that caused hundreds to flee, according to the US State Department’s annual report on religious freedom around the world.

The report said there was particular discrimination against the Ahmadiya community, which Pakistan considers non-Muslim as adherents do not believe Mohammed was the last prophet.

In another incident in September, a 25-year-old Christian jailed on blasphemy allegations died in prison. Activists suspected he was tortured, but authorities said he committed suicide.

Pakistan, founded in 1947 as a Muslim homeland during the bloody partition of British India, is overwhelmingly Muslim. Religious minorities however form some five per cent of the population, according to government figures.

Among Muslims, strong tensions also persist between the majority Sunni and the minority Shia sects. Bombings on Friday killed 33 people in Karachi, including an attack near a bus carrying people to a Shia procession.

In UN bodies, Pakistan has butted heads with Western democracies by sponsoring resolutions on fighting “religious defamation.”

But Bhatti vowed to make progress at home.

In December, the government launched a drive to set up more than 120 “district interfaith harmony committees” around Pakistan to help resolve conflicts surrounded minorities.

Bhatti said he has personally visited religious communities around the country including more than 30 madrassas, or Islamic schools, to encourage tolerance.

While he said he met a positive reception, Bhatti was under no illusions about his safety, saying he has faced death threats.

“When I started this struggle I said that I would not compromise on the principle of religious freedom and human equality,” he said.

“These principles are the nucleus of my life. I will live for them and I will die for them.”

©2010 DAWN Media Group. All rights reserved

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Pakistan and Ongoing Christian Persecution

--- The Seoul Times, Korea
Friday, February 05, 2010
Asia-Pacific

Letters from Tokyo

Pakistan and Ongoing Christian Persecution

By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent


Christians and other minorities in Pakistan continue to face enormous discrimination and persecution, and in extreme cases, but not rare cases, many Christians have been killed by either Muslim mobs or by state sanctioned policies. Therefore, the endless suffering and discrimination in Pakistan must come to light and the international community must put more pressure on the government of Pakistan to act, and to rescind brutal laws.

Pakistan is currently in crisis and much of the current crisis in self induced because it is clear that Pakistan supported radical Sunni Islam in Afghanistan and Kashmir for decades. Now the very same Sunni Islamic radicals who were supported by the security services in Pakistan have decided to turn Pakistan into another radical Sunni Islamic nightmare. Therefore, the ongoing “year zero Islamization” is leading to more hatred and this hatred is also being aimed at all minorities.

Even worse, for Christians, and other minorities like the Ahmadiyya Muslims and Hindus; they are suffering at the hands of radical Sunni Islamists, institutionalized laws which discriminate against minorities, government indifference, police bias, and every day discrimination where individual Muslims can abuse their power.

Emmanuel Y. Mani wrote an article on 11/10/2009 which was published on http://www.asianews.it and he stated that the “Blasphemy laws include Article 295, Sections B and C, and Article 298, Sections A, B and C, of the Pakistan Penal Code. These laws were incorporated into the criminal justice system between 1980 and 1986 by then President of Pakistan Zia-ul-Haq, supposedly to ensure respect for the Prophet Mohammed, his Companions and the Holy Qur’an. These laws are unique in the contemporary world because they allow dubious charges to be brought against people who have been subjected to extra judicial killings, arson and destruction of their property.”

“From 1986 to October 2009, at least 966 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws, 50% were Muslims, 35% Ahmadis, 13% Christians, 1% Hindus and 1% with no known religious background. At least 33 persons have been killed extra judicially after allegations were made against them; 15 were Muslims, 15 Christians, two Ahmadis and one Hindu.”

This law is not only being used against Christians, Hindus, and Ahmadiyya Muslims, but it is also being used by the dominant Sunni Islamic sect in Pakistan in order to crush all alternative voices or the law is being manipulated on any grounds in order to bypass real justice.

Last year on September 15th a young Christian male called Robert Fanish was found dead in his cell. Of course, the usual mantra was stated and a cover up was started from the start but clearly he had been tortured and victimized. The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) which is a Catholic-led advocacy group, however, stated that the brutal death of Robert Fanish was an “extra-judicial murder.”

Therefore, in modern day Pakistan this Sunni Islamic madness continues and now they are killing each other in the north of the nation, while causing mayhem in Afghanistan. At the same time, they are killing minority Christians, Shia Muslims and Ahmadiyya Muslims. It is like a state of madness with no end game apart from complete Sunni Islamization and then an internal Sunni Islamic war on the grounds of who is the most radical.

This madness led to 6 Christians being burnt alive last year and numerous other attacks. More recently, we have a 12 year old Christian girl called Shazia Bashir who was raped and tortured to death according to local Christians and advocacy groups.

Shazia Bashir was employed in the household of a wealthy Muslim lawyer and like many poor Christian domestic workers in Pakistan, she suffered abuse, however, her abuse would lead to her death but will justice be done in Pakistan?

A Protestant NGO, Sharing Life Ministry Life (SLMP), gave details about the young Christian girl. They stated that she had been working for eight months and that she had suffered constant stress and had been treated harshly before her death. This applied to ill treatment, verbal abuse and other forms of mistreatment.

SLMP chief coordinator Sohail Johnson commented “…that 99 per cent of Christian girls from poor families are hired by wealthy Muslims, and are often physically, psychologically and sexually abused.” He continued by stating that “In some cases, their employers marry them off to Muslim servants, and forcibly convert them to Islam.”

Sohail Johnson also mentioned about the failings of the government of Pakistan in protecting Christian girls. He states that “These vulnerable Christian girls do not have any state protection. We urge the government to ensure protection of these disadvantaged girls.”

Therefore, in 2009 we heard about Christians being burnt alive in Pakistan and many other cases of violence which was aimed at Christians and other minorities. Sadly, the same pattern is continuing but this time it is the brutal murder of a young Christian girl and many Christians doubt that justice will be done.
In Pakistan it is clear that Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Hindus, and others, face an uphill struggle and death and persecution is never far away. However, what makes the situation worse is that it is not only radical Islamists who are persecuting all minorities but it is also the state apparatus of Pakistan.

The cycle of violence, intimidation, and persecution, can only be imagined from a distance. Yet the daily terror caused by Islamists and the betrayal of the institutions of Pakistan means that this nightmare is ongoing. However, will the international community just “turn a blind eye” or will outside pressure be put on Pakistan?
Lee Jay Walker serves as Tokyo Correspondent of The Seoul Times. He specializes in int'l relations and geopolitics. He is also involved in analyst work and research on business. After finishing BA degree in East European Studies at the University of London, he earned MA degree in Asia Pacific Studies at Nottingham Trent University. Website at http://www.leejaywalker.wordpress.com where work is published.
URL: http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=9352

Court to stage debate on religious freedom

--- The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Headlines    Fri, 02/05/2010 9:22 AM

Court to stage debate on religious freedom

Ary Hermawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta


The Constitutional Court will see one of its longest hearings as it becomes a forum for clerics, activists, pundits and artists to debate whether the country should revoke a 45-year-old blasphemy law to uphold freedom of religion.

The court opened Thursday the first hearing of a judicial review filed by a number of human rights groups against the 1965 Blasphemy Law, which they said was adverse to human rights principles and irrelevant to a democratic Indonesia.

The review has been strongly opposed by the government and major Muslim organizations as well as hardline groups including the Islam Defender’s Front (FPI), whose members staged a rally outside the court Thursday.

The court is set to present 31 experts, including sociologist Imam Prasodjo, poet Emha Ainun Nadjib, novelist Andrea Hirata and filmmaker Garin Nugroho, to share their opinions on the issue.

“The examination will be extensive,” court chief Mahfud M.D said. “We usually hold a hearing every fourteen days, but in this case, we will hold it weekly.” The examination will take at least four months.

The petitioners will present experts including Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Franz Magnis-Suseno, Luthfi Assyaukanie and Cole Durham, professor of law from the US, who will speak at the court via a teleconference.

Syafii will be speaking against his colleagues in Muhammadiyah, which, like Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), officially expressed its opposition to the judicial review. Ten Islamic organizations, including Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, will also be given a say in court.

The government and the House of Representatives are against the judicial review.

In Thursday’s hearing, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali demanded the court reject the activists’ request on the grounds that no petitioners had their constitutional rights denied because of the law.

“We ask the court to decide if the judicial review request is unacceptable,” the minister said Suryadharma also said the law had for decades served to maintain harmony in religiously diverse Indonesia. “Annulling the law will create conflict, instability and disharmony. It is urgently needed to endorse religious tolerance.”

Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar argued that religious freedom did not mean people could practice their beliefs regardless of existing laws.

Chairuman Harahap, representing the legislators, concurred with Patrialis, saying the law remained relevant though it was created decades ago. “From a sociological perspective, a law should be in line with the will of the people,” he said.

Uli Parulian Sihombing, a lawyer for petitioners, said they were not asking for absolute freedom, but assurance that religious interpretation on certain religious teachings were not subject to prosecution by the state. Uli referred to the case of Jamaah Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect that has been declared heretical and banned by the government.

In 2008, a pro-Ahmadiyah group called the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion, was attacked by FPI and Hizbut Tahrir members, who strongly supported the government’s move to ban Ahmadiyah.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/05/cour...ligious-freedom.html

Friday, February 5, 2010

Minister defends blasphemy law

--- The Straits Times, Singapore
Breaking News

February 4, 2010 Thursday
Updated 9:33 pm
Minister defends blasphemy law

As Islamic hardliners protested outside, Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar told a Constitutional Court hearing that the law guaranteed tolerance in the pluralistic state. — PHOTO: AFP
JAKARTA - INDONESIA on Thursday defended its blasphemy law as vital to religious harmony in the mainly Muslim country as human rights groups tried to demonstrate in court the legislation was unconstitutional.

As Islamic hardliners protested outside, Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar told a Constitutional Court hearing that the law guaranteed tolerance in the pluralistic state. ‘We’re worried that religious harmony, which is now strong, will be torn apart because of this unclear petition…. This kind of request should be ignored,’ he said on the first day of the hearings.

A coalition of human rights groups said the 1965 law contravened the freedom of religion which is guaranteed in the constitution.

‘This law justifies state interference in the interpretation of religious teachings. We’re no longer an authoritarian state so this kind of law should be revoked,’ human rights activist Asmara Nababan told AFP. ‘The state should guarantee that everybody has the right to their own religious beliefs, as this is a basic human right.’

Under the blasphemy law, it is illegal to ‘publicise, recommend or organise public support’ for different interpretations of five recognised faiths or any religion other than those five. The five belief systems protected in the law are Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism and Islam. The blasphemy law was used in 2008 to effectively ban the Islamic Ahmadiyah sect in the face of violent protests by Muslim extremists.

Ahmadiyah followers believe the sect’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the final prophet of Islam rather than Mohammed, breaking one of the religion’s tenets. The sect’s mosques have been burned and Ahmadis have been forced underground for fear of further attacks by radical Islamic vigilante groups. — AFP

URL: www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_486549.html

Militant groups ready to defend controversial law

--- The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
National   Thu, 02/04/2010 10:15 AM

Militant groups ready to defend controversial law

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) said they would defend the controversial blasphemy law, calling the move to scrap the 45-year-old law as an attempt to “liberalize” and destroy Islam.

The two radical groups have met with Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali to lend their support to the government to fight against the plan of human rights groups to have the law reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

The review is backed by promoters of pluralism, including recipient of the Magsasay Award and Muhammadiyah patron Ahmad Syafii Maarif and the late Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, widely respected in the Nahdlatul Ulama.

FPI lawyer Munarman said the judicial review request had no legal standing because the NGOs are not religious organizations.

The individuals joining the petition were not those whose Constitutional rights had been denied, and therefore had no right to file a judicial review, he said on the group’s website.

HTI spokesman Ismail Yusanto called on Muslims to support the government to defend Islam from any assaults, including the judicial review of the blasphemy law.

The group had appointed the Muslim Lawyers Team, or TPM, as its representative in the hearing at the Constitutional Court, scheduled to commence on Thursday.

They had filed a request at the court to be given a say in the hearing. “The MK has not responded to our request yet,” Mahendradatta of TPM told The Jakarta Post.

The TPM, which also represent a group called the Peace Alliance Against Blasphemy of Islam (ADA API), accused the petitioners of using the slogan of freedom of religion as a cover to discredit religions.

“They are actually seeking ‘freedom to insult religions’,” Mahendradatta said.

He said Hizbut Tahrir members and other Muslim groups will attend the hearings to show their support for the government.

“Thousands of Muslims are apprehensive about the review. They may be curious and want to attend the hearings,” claimed Mahendradtta, who was also a defense lawyer for the Bali bombers.

Uli Parulian Sihombing, a lawyer for the review petitioners, deplored the meeting between the religious minister and the militant groups. “A minister should not conduct such a meeting. The worst thing is, we are also informed that the meeting used state funds,” he told the Post.

Suryadharma Ali said his ministry and the Law and Human Rights Ministry have made preparations to counter the arguments of the rights activists.

He blasted the judicial review request as “irrational”, saying that it would only hurt the existing six officially recognized religions — Islam, Catholicism, Protestanism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism — and create disharmony.

The minister said freedom of religion as guaranteed in the Constitution should be practiced in accordance with the existing regulations, which he said were made to protect other people’s rights to freedom of religion.

The minister took the view that the emergence of religious sects was a form of blasphemy against existing religions.

The government, he said as quoted by Antara, had the responsibility to do whatever it could do to maintain religious harmony.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Editorial: Holier than thou

--- The Jakarta Post, Indonesia
Opinion Thu, 02/04/2010 9:29 AM
Editorial: Holier than thou

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer, sang Madonna, the diva with a Catholic background who later followed the Kaballah faith, which is based on an ancient Jewish belief system.

If any of her Indonesian fans had followed suit (though the singer has reportedly left the sect), their fate might well have followed a continuous trend — being ostracized from their communities. This despite the fact that even though the explanation to the 1965 law on blasphemy states that apart from the officially sanctioned religions, “It does not mean other religions such as the Jewish [faith], Zoroastrianism, Shinto, or Taoism are banned in Indonesia. They are entitled to a full guarantee [as stated in the Constitution], and are to be left alone, as long as they do not violate regulations or other laws.”

The crimes under this law include “deliberately persuading … general support [for] interpretations of a religion followed in Indonesia, or engaging in religious activities that duplicate the teachings of that religion, where those interpretations and activities violate the principle teachings of the said religion.” The officially sanctioned religions are Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Hindu, Buddhism and Confucianism The first president Sukarno signed the 1965 law, passed, among other reasons, to secure the “goals of the National Revolution and national development” and noting, at that time, the widespread emergence of various sects “which violate religious laws and teachings”.

Until today, reports of obscure sects come and go; at some time, somewhere, someone will claim to hear a voice, “like an angel sighing … feels like flying”, so the song goes — and somehow gain a few or a multitude of converts. Lia Eden, serving time following her conviction for blasphemy, is famously one of these self-proclaimed angels of a somewhat chilling but not unique sect, in which followers torture themselves. Followers of the Ahmadiyah are harassed everywhere, accused of not acknowledging the Prophet Muhammad, a basic tenet of Islam.

Today at the Constitutional Court, we hope to hear the wisest of the wise in a hearing of a judicial review request of the 1965 law. We may see the usual crop of demonstrators around the building near the State Palace, who will loudly defend the Almighty, demanding that the law remains unchanged. The petitioners, grouped in the Advocacy Alliance for Freedom of Religion, demand the law be annulled. The government, its lawyer said, creates policies which potentially justify conflict against certain religious groups.

The group echoes earlier critics, who have pointed out the law’s contradiction with the 1945 Constitution which states the equal right of all citizens to freedom of worship in their faiths; although atheism is not recognized.

It is hoped that the experts to address the court hearing will enlighten us on what laws are really for. Are they instruments of the state to facilitate relationships between citizens of diverse backgrounds and interests, and faiths? Are they instruments of those in power, those that follow the principle of “L’etat c’est moi”, and use the law at whim? The 1965 law continued to be effective in the Soeharto years, while he actually inserted official sanction of the synchretist beliefs, aliran kepercayaan, of which he was a follower.

Annul the law — and remove the state’s blessing of those who insist on the monopoly to say they are holier than thou.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/04/editorial-holier-thou.html

PAKISTAN: The year 2009 was worst for Ahmedis

---Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN: The year 2009 was worst for Ahmedis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FST-009-2010
February 3, 2010

A Statement from Ahmadiyya Jamaat forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: The year 2009 was worst for Ahmedis

The year 2009 was one of the worst for Ahmadis (a religious minority community) in Pakistan. Eleven Ahmadis were murdered for their faith. Since the promulgation of the anti-Ahmadiyya law in 1984, there has never been a year when less than 11 Ahmadis were killed. Apart from this, numerous attempts have been made on the lives of Ahmadis by their opponents who felt encouraged by the jaundiced attitude of the authorities against Ahmadis.

The federal government maintained its posture as if in continual denial of the human rights and freedom of religion of Ahmadis. The provincial governments, particularly in the Punjab and Azad Kashmir openly supported the Mullas (Muslim fundamentalist leaders) in their anti-Ahmadiyya campaign.

The government of the Punjab sponsored and held an ‘end of the prophet hood conference’ at the Badshahi Mosque in the provincial capital city of Lahore on April 11, 2009. At the occasion they even burnt an effigy of the holy founder of the Ahmadiyya community. Clerics, one after another, unrestrainedly proposed the denial of religious freedom to Ahmadis and indulged in slander and abuse. The conference was paid for with public funds. The federal Minister of Religious Affairs also addressed the conference.

On July 1, 2009 Mr Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of the Punjab province, presided over a meeting of high ranking clerics on the issue of terrorism. At the end of the conference a Declaration was issued and in its clause 2 the conference declared that “Anyone who is guilty, directly or indirectly, openly or by implication, of even minor insolence to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is an infidel (Kafir), apostate (Murtad) and must be put to death (Wajib-ul-Qatl).” They linked this statement in the text to the ‘end of prophethood’. The declaration was given wide publicity through an advertisement campaign in the vernacular press.

The Central Police Office of Azad Kashmir issued an office circular dated March 5, 2009 on the subject of Suppression of Ahmadiyyat. A prominent sectarian leader Mr. Pir Atiqur Rahman has been appointed Minister of Auqaf (Religious Trusts) of Azad Kashmir government.

In District Layyah of Punjab province, five Ahmadis including four school-going children were arrested on a fabricated charge of blasphemy. They suffered in prison for almost six months before they were released on bail.

Thirty two Ahmadis of Lathianwala, Punjab province, were accused of blasphemy in a single case on July 25, 2009 with FIR 486/09 at Police Station Khurarianwala, Punjab. The authorities took four months to drop the fabricated charge of blasphemy. A heavy police contingent raided their mosque and homes on August 10, 2009 and removed all religious and Arabic inscriptions on their walls. YouTube displayed the video of the outrage under title: Acts of Blasphemy by Pakistani Authorities.

Seventy-four Ahmadis were booked during the year under anti-Ahmadiyya and religious laws on spurious grounds. These laws carry penalties of death and long-term imprisonments. A woman school teacher, Ms Bushra Naheed was booked on March 5, 2009 under section PPC 295-A, which is section of law that deals with deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting the religion or religious beliefs. The charge is triable in an anti-terrorist court, and it is punishable by ten years imprisonment. The lady was only accused of speaking harshly to a woman worker.

Ahmadiyya mosques continued to be targeted throughout the year. One mosque in Kalaswala, Punjab, was destroyed by miscreants while another was attacked by a grenade in Sialkot. Freedom of worship was denied to Ahmadis at Chiniot and Tatle Aali by police officials. A police party used chisels, cement and paint to remove all Arabic inscriptions from the Ahmadiyya mosque in Lathianwala, Punjab.

At Pir Mahal, District Toba Tek Singh Mullas agitated, attacked and defiled an Ahmadiyya graveyard in June 2009. The local authorities, rather than taking action against the clerics, proceeded to cancel the allotment order of the graveyard land to Ahmadis.

A Summary of the Persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan
From January 1 — December 31, 2009

Ahmadis murdered for their faith

  1. Mr. Saeed Ahmad was killed in Kotri on Jan 19, 09.
  2. Mr. Mubashir Ahmad was shot dead on Feb 20, 09 in Karachi.
  3. Mr. Shiraz Bajwa and his wife Noreen Bajwa both doctors were brutally murdered on Mar 14, 09 in Multan.
  4. Mian Laiq Ahmad was killed in Faisalabad on May 29, 09.
  5. Two Ahmadis, Mr. Khalid Rasheed and Mr. Zafar Iqbal were shot dead on Jun 24, 09 in Quetta.
  6. Rana Ata-ul-Karim was murdered on Jul 06, 09 in Multan.
  7. Mr. M. Ahmad Farooqi was shot dead on Sep 26, 09 in Uch Sharif,Bahawalpur.
  8. Zulfiquar Mansur was murdered brutally on Sep 11, 09. He had been abducted a month earlier.
  9. Rana Saleem Ahmad, the Deputy Amir of Jamaat Ahmadiyya Sanghar was shot dead on Nov 26, 09.

Ahmadis behind bars

  1. Mr. Muhammad Iqbal was imprisoned for life in a fabricated case of blasphemy. He was arrested in March 2004, and is currently incarcerated in the Central Jail, Faisalabad. An appeal has been filed with the Lahore High Court against the decision of the Sessions Court. It is registered as Criminal Appeal No. 89/2005. He is now in the sixth year of his imprisonment.
  2. Three Ahmadis; Mr. Basharat, Mr. Nasir Ahmad and Mr. Muhammad Idrees along with seven others of Chak Sikandar, Punjab province, were arrested in September 2003 on a false charge of murdering a cleric. The police, after due investigation found no evidence against the accused. Yet they faced a ‘complaint trial’ for a crime they did not commit. They are being held on death row at a prison in Jehlum, while their appeal lies with the Lahore High Court. They are now in the seventh year of their incarceration. Their appeal to the Lahore High Court is registered as Criminal Appeal No. 616/2005 dated 26 April 2005.
  3. Dr. Muhammad Asghar was arrested on a fabricated charge of blasphemy in June 2008. The judge rejected his plea for bail. The police investigation found him innocent. Subsequently his plea for bail was rejected by the High Court — and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has directed his expeditious trial which is now in progress. It is learnt that his plea for bail has now been accepted by the Supreme Court, but he was still in prison on December 31.

Ahmadis who were made to face charges

  1. Thirty-seven Ahmadis were wrongfully booked under the dreaded blasphemy laws.
  2. Fifty-seven Ahmadis were charged under Ahmadi-specific laws.
  3. Ms. Bushra Naheed, an Ahmadi school teacher was falsely charged under PPC 295-A, triable in Anti-terrorism court. She is accused only of speaking harshly to a woman worker.
  4. An Ahmadiyya mosque was desecrated in Lathianwala; Kalima (Islamic Creed) and Islamic terminology written on the walls of the mosque as well as Ahmadis’ houses was covered with cement and paint by the police. A case was registered against 32 Ahmadis under 295-A, 295-C and 298-C, etc.

Murder Attempts

  1. A murder attempt was made on Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Abid, an Ahmadi religious teacher on February 25, 2009 at Vehari.
  2. An Ahmadi college lecturer, Mr. Mubashir Ahmad Tahir escaped death from murderers in Chakwal. He received serious injuries when they tried to behead him.
  3. An Ahmadi lawyer Mr. Riasat Ali Bajwa was attacked on May 4, 2009.
  4. Another Ahmadi Mr. Javed Ahmad escaped a murder attempt on August 12, 2009 in Kunri.
  5. Mr. Luqman Ahmad Gondal s/o Mr. Nasir Ahmad Gondal (president of the local Ahmadiyya community) closely escaped an attempt on his life on September 12, 2009.
  6. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz, 20-years old son of a former president of the district Ahmadiyya community became the target of an attack on his life on February 7, 2009.
  7. Dr Pervaiz Zareef of Bhati Gate, Lahore closely escaped an attempt on his life on November 25, 2009.

Abduction of Ahmadis

  1. Qamar Ahmad, an Ahmadi was abducted by two men in the vicinity of his home at about 21:30 on March 16, 2009. He was left unconscious on roadside.
  2. Mr. Bashir Ahmad Advocate, President of the local Ahmadiyya community, Achini Payan, near Peshawar was abducted on April 1, 2009. He has not been recovered yet.
  3. Mr. Rashid Karim, a well-known Ahmadi in Faisalabad, was abducted on May 9, 2009. He was released 5 months later after payment of heavy ransom.
  4. Mr. Zulfiquar Mansur was abducted at Quetta in September 2009. A month later his dead body was recovered from roadside in city’s suburbs.

Miscellaneous

  1. Four school-going children of 9th and 10th grade were falsely charged under PPC 295-C in Layyah; they remained incarcerated for about 6 months.
  2. An Ahmadiyya mosque was attacked with a grenade in Sialkot.
  3. A gang of religious extremists, comprising approximately 50 men attacked an Ahmadiyya mosque in the village of Kalaswala on October 27 and destroyed it.
  4. All Ahmadi teachers were fired from Qurban High School in Lahore under the pressure of mullas.
  5. Four rockets were launched against an Ahmadi-owned industrial plant in Feb 09.
  6. Anti-Ahmadiyya Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Conference was held in the Royal Mosque, Lahore under the auspices of the provincial government in April 2009.
  7. An Ahmadiyya graveyard was attacked and desecrated by rioters in Pir Mahal, Toba Tek Singh in June 09. Thereafter the authorities cancelled the land allotment order issued by them to Ahmadis 20 years ago.
  8. Two Ahmadis were assaulted for their faith on August 7, 2009 in Nankana.
  9. A Khatme Nabuwwat Conference was held in Rabwah by rabid mullas on 15, 16 October 2009. It is worth noting that Ahmadis, who are 95% of the Rabwah population, are not allowed to hold their gatherings and sports competitions in this town, while the authorities allow the fundamentalists to hold conferences in Rabwah, in which they use highly provocative language against Ahmadi residents of Rabwah.
  10. SHO Police Station Chiniot City, ordered Ahmadis of Kot Muhammad Yar to stop their weekly Friday worship.
  11. Ahmadis of Tatle Aali, District Gujranwala were forbidden by the local police to congregate for prayers.

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/2397/

 
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