Indonesia was once known for its moderate and diverse Islam, but extremism is on the rise. Anger over the perceived “blasphemy” of former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (better known as “Ahok”), a Chinese Christian, brought more than 200,000 people to the streets in 2016 and eventually led to his imprisonment. In August 2017 the government announced plans to further tighten blasphemy legislation, though a month earlier it ordered the disbandment of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir “to protect Indonesia’s unity”.
Indonesian clerics dispute president’s ‘world statesman’ award
According to the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a world statesman who promotes religious tolerance. According to the Clergy Forum of Jakarta, Banten and West Java in Indonesia, Yudhoyono turns a blind eye to oppression of minority religions in his own country. The forum on […]
Indonesian pastor freed
Pastor Bernard Maukar has been released from prison. The Indonesia Pentecostal Church leader from Mekargalih village in West Java was jailed for three months in January for operating a church without a permit. Maukar denied the charges against him, but later told Open Doors International – an organisation that supports […]
Church walls go up, then torn down by local government
Cheers went up as a backhoe tore down the barely finished walls of the Batak Protestant Church near Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday. The pile of rubble that remained was only the latest setback to Christians trying to retain a toehold in the world’s most populous Muslim country. The church, in […]
Indonesia – Supreme Court ‘pro’ ruling ignored by City authority, so church resists
Bogor City, 60 kilometres south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, is reported to be one of the world’s most densely populated areas. And, although not an Islamic state, Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, with 86.1% of Indonesians being Muslim, according to the 2000 census. In April 2010, […]
Uptick in church closures, attacks in Indonesia
The number of violations of Christians’ religious rights in Indonesia reached 40 in the first five months of the year, nearly two-thirds the amount of anti-Christian actions in all of last year, according to the Jakarta Christian Communication Forum. The Christian minority in Indonesia faced 64 cases of violations of […]
Islamist mob throws urine on church in Indonesia
No arrests have been made since 600 Islamists hurled bags filled with urine and ditchwater at about 100 members of a church last week and threatened to kill its pastor. Police looked on as the mob attacked the Philadelphia Batak Christian Protestant Church worshipping on the street in Bekasi, near […]
Harsh era looms in Aceh, Indonesia
The election of a hard-line Islamic governor in Indonesia’s Aceh Province last month appears to have opened the way for a crack-down on the minority Christian community, which saw 17 churches sealed shut in early May. Emboldened by the April 9 election of Zaini Abdullah of the militant Aceh Party […]
President sidesteps church controversy
In a defeat for the rule of law in Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declined to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that a local government allow a West Java church to worship in its building. The Bogor city government revoked the building permit of the Christian Church of Indonesia […]
Indonesia: anti-Christian incidents nearly doubled in 2011
Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority. The Indonesian Protestant Church Union, locally known as PGI, counted 54 acts of violence and other violations against Christians in 2011, up […]
Indonesian mayor’s defiance ‘shows government’s weakness’
The Bogor mayor’s refusal to obey a Supreme Court order to restore a congregation’s permit casts doubt on the ability of the Indonesian government to enforce the rule of law, according to a leading rights group. Muslim demonstrators and area police have continued to obstruct the services of the Indonesian […]