INDONESIA: Government failed to respond to threats to civil society and religious group in Surakarta, Central Java

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from KontraS regarding the continued violation of religious freedom in Indonesia by alleged “extremist” elements of society and the police. Several cases have been reported in mid-June 2007 in Surakarta, locally referred to as Solo (Central Java) in which religious sects (either Christian or Islamic) are experiencing intimidation and attacks by unidentified people. Since this is not the first set of attacks against religious groups in the area and it has been reported to occur for several years, the AHRC is concerned about the Indonesian authorities’ failure to investigate such incidents, and urges the government to be more pro-active in punishing the perpetrators.

CASE DETAILS:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed of three separate cases of alleged attacks, intimidation and forced disassembly of religious meetings in Surakarta, Central Java.

The first case reported involves a seminar conducted by the Interaction of Solidarity between Elements of Society (INSAN-EMAS) working along with the Indonesian Foundation for Legal Service (LPH YAPHI). INSAN-EMAS is comprised of several elements of religious factions that would like to promote nonviolence in society to find ways to prevent increasing attacks on places of worship. The two organizations invited the community, particularly the bureaucrats of the village council, to participate in a seminar entitled “Strengthening the Foundation of Civil Society without Violence” on 21 June 2007 at the Taman Sari Restaurant in Colomadu, Surakarta. At around 11:30pm on 20 June 2007 the event planners received a phone call from an unknown person who claimed that he represented the Laskar Umat Islam Surakarta (LUIS). The caller threatened them to cancel the event because one of the speakers, Dawan Raharja, is a sinner and is forbidden from entering Solo (Surakarta). When the planners tried to explain that Mr. Raharja was unable to attend, the caller said that Mr. Raharja had to repent because he was going to liberalise Islam. Before hanging up, the caller also mentioned another speaker, Arie Sujito, as being a Marxist and is therefore forbidden from spreading out Communist values.

At 7:30am, on the following day, the head of sector police for Colomadu, Kridho Baskara, came to the Taman Sari restaurant and asked the owner to cancel the seminar and he barred any food from being set up. The owner, Ms. Ismail refused to comply, and Mr. Baskara became angry and slammed against the table. Fearful of the situation, Ms. Ismail called the event planners and told them that the police were threatening her staff by coming into the kitchen and preventing anyone from cooking. The head of the event planners Ms. Haryati Panca Putri came to speak with Mr. Baskara and tried to reason with him that he had no right to cancel the seminar. Mr. Baskara was about to relent, when in came the security intelligent officers of the Karanganyar police department (Kasat Intelkam) who refused to let the seminar begin. After discussion, they finally negotiated to have the seminar finish by 11:30am. But during the seminar the police came with two trucks full of officers in security gears carrying shields and batons. To explain the reasons for the police battalion, the head of Karanganyar Police Department stated that they were protecting the participants because they feared attacks by LUIS (Laskar Umat Islam Surakarta). According to eyewitness, as soon as the police arrived at the place of seminar, they interrupted and ordered the participants to leave the building. Due to the disturbance, INSAN-EMAS along with LPH YAPHI filed a formal complaint with the Karanganyar Police Department.

The second case involved the Christian Church of Indonesia, “Kristus Gembala” or “Christ the Shepherd” located in Surakarta. The followers of this Church were renting a house in Yos Sudarso Street No. 367, Dawung Wetan, in which they used as a place of worship. On 3 June 2007, they were conducting a mass that started at 5pm, when at around 5:40pm, while they were praying, they suddenly saw several young people dressed in “ninja” suits shouting “Allah Akbar, God is great, everyone get out, break up the mass, there is no meaning for you to pray like that.” Next, they came into the house and turned off the lights and kicked the chairs while screaming at everyone to get out. When they turned the lights back on, five of the men approached Priest Fatizanolo Waruwu and interrogated him by asking for the Church’s permission letter to conduct mass at this house. The priest refused to present to them the letter and asked for their identities. They informed the priest that there are new regulations now about practicing religion. Before leaving, they broke the electric fuse box and they said: “Just so you all know we have closed down many churches, such as the Tiberias Solo Church, and Mayor Bambang cannot do anything about this. In three days time, we will bring down more churches, we are ready for thousands, and will not be responsible for anything that happens.”

In regards to the forced disassembly of the mass held by “Kristus Gembala” Christian Church, Priest Fatizanolo Waruwu has taken a pro-active approach by reporting the incident to Serengan police office and the Security Intelligence Police Department (Kasat Intelkam Poltabes) of Surakarta. He has also submitted a report to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, in which he asked permission to use the aforementioned house as a place of worship. However, the minister is unable to entertain such a request because the participants have to first gain the approval from the local community in order to build any place of worship.

The third case involved a prayer session that was taking place on 21 June 2007 at Mr. Buntoro’s house in Semanggi, Surakarta. At 7pm, when prayers were about to begin, a mob of people suddenly appeared at the house shouting for everyone to get out or they will bring a larger crowd to intimidate them. These people were clad in what appeared to be black and white “ninja” suits. They asked Mr. Buntoro for his permission letter to conduct the prayers. However, he informed them that it was not a requirement if people are just conducting a prayer. The neighbours heard the commotion and came to witness the incident, which made the crowd in front of his house become bigger. Mr. Buntoro called the police and he also informed the head of the village council. When the police came, they did not arrest these people and were rather reluctant to place any forceful warning on them to stop terrorising the community. The mob of “ninja” clad people eventually left but they warned Mr. Buntoro that they will come again with a large mass of people.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Although Indonesia claims itself to be tolerant of every religion and remains a secular state that caters to the world’s major religions, in recent times, religious crisis has been increasing without proper intervention by the police or government. Several reported incidents in the past have occurred in areas such as Ambon, Sulawesi and other parts of central Java whereby there is sectarian violence between the opposing religious groups.

According to the Indonesian constitution, it says “Every person shall be free to choose and to practice the religion of his/her choice” (28.1). However, the government has placed restrictions on different types of religious activities that may contradict the constitution. The government requires the official five religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, and Hinduism to abide by the rules of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, such as the Regulation on Building Houses of Worship (1969) and the Guidelines for the Propagation of Religion (1978). With these guidelines, the government has placed a ban on the use of private houses for worship unless the regional office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs provides a license, and there is a law that states that the local community must agree on the construction of any place of worship. However, due to these laws and guidelines, many religious groups face long legal procedures and the difficulty in gaining permission to build places of worship.

Members of faiths that are situated in areas where they are a minority religious group (for instance, Muslims in North Sulawesi or Christians in Java) routinely report the difficulties in establishing a place of worship. These minority faith groups also face harassment from private actors and even local authorities when conducting religious ceremonies. The government has yet to respond to these violent attacks with appropriate and constructive measures. Due to these problems, numerous faith based communities are forced to practice their religion in secrecy and their fundamental rights to religious freedom are not being upheld.

SUGGESTED ACTION: 
Please write to the authorities listed below expressing your grave concern regarding the continued attacks experienced by several religious groups in Surakarta (Central Java). Please urge the appropriate authorities to exhaust all means to ensure that a conclusive investigation is conducted to guarantee that first, the perpetrators are punished, and second that religious sects are able to freely conduct their belief and establish safe places of worship.

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