Religious Freedom in Peril
It is necessary that regional leaders equip themselves with knowledge about these forms of human rights violations to avoid a similar case from occurring in the future.
The people's objection against the construction of Maranatha Church of the Congregation of Batak Protestant Churches (HKBP) in Cilegon is “a slap in the face” of our constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom. The objection has also “poked holes” in the image of our religious tolerance and moderation. Our actions have largely fallen short of speaking out loud.
As an extension of the state, which should be at the forefront to protect the religious freedom of all citizens, the local officials instead appeared to have compromised their duties by formally endorsing the public petition objecting to the church.
Whatever the reason, objecting the establishment of a house of worship cannot be justified because it is a transgression against Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.
Also read:
> Freedom and Religious Maturity
> Freedom of Religion is Constitutional Right
Article 28E, Paragraph (1) states: "Everyone is free to embrace religion and worship according to their religion, choose to study, work, reside, and live in any territory of the country, leave and return.” Article 29, Paragraph (2) states: "The state guarantees the freedom of every citizen to embrace religion and worship according to their religion and faith.”
In addition, the objection against establishing a house of worship is an affront to the very right to religion. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) classifies the right to religion as a non-derogable right, which means that infringing it is not justified under any circumstances, whether in conditions of peace or war. In Indonesia, the concept of religious freedom as a non-derogable right is also stipulated in Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights (Article 4), which guarantees the right to religion as a manifestation of human rights that cannot be undermined under any circumstances, nor by any person.
Religious moderation
The local residents’ objection against the establishment of a house of worship in Cilegon poses a threat to the values of religious moderation envisioned by the government in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). The Cilegon incident infringes upon religious tolerance as a manifestation of religious moderation.
Ironically, the protesters used the pretext of local wisdom to argue their objection. In fact, tolerance and local wisdom are two of the four indicators of religious moderation that do not contradict each other (the other two being nationalism and nonviolence).
It is said that those opposing the church’s establishment in Cilegon have based their objection on local wisdom as defined in Serang Regent’s Decree No. 189/Huk/SK/1975. This argument should be legally irrelevant, given the overarching legal norms as mandated in the 1945 Constitution. In law, the legal principle of lex superior derogat legi inferiori (a higher rule supersedes a lower one) applies.
What the objectors need to be aware of is the domino effect their actions can have on the fate of Muslims in predominantly non-Muslim areas, especially outside Java.
It turns out that the objection against the establishment of a church is not without precedent. According to the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Cilegon administration has previously turned down a building permit application for the HKBP Maranatha Church on four separate occasions since 2006, and five applications for the Indonesian Baptist Church since 1995.
There seems to be something wrong with interfaith life in Cilegon, as indicated by its low score on the Tolerance Index. According to a report from the Setara Institute, the municipality’s Tolerance Index is still far from ideal, ranking 15th from the bottom in 2015, fourth from the bottom in 2017 and 2018, eighth from the bottom in 2020, and third from bottom in 2021.
The Tolerance Index indicates the degree of an administration's governance in managing harmony, tolerance, nationalism, and inclusiveness.
What the objectors need to be aware of is the domino effect their actions can have on the fate of Muslims in predominantly non-Muslim areas, especially outside Java. It must be acknowledged that such an action has often triggered a backlash that disrupts religious harmony and tolerance in other areas.
Their harsh approach in interfaith interaction is often met with retaliation against Muslims when they want to build a mosque in Muslim-minority areas outside Java. It is time to stop this unhealthy approach to interreligious relations.
Hostage to electoral politics
The pockmarked face of religious freedom and tolerance in Cilegon may be related to the officials there (read: Cilegon mayor), who are dependent on the local electorate and afraid of losing the political support of their voter base.
In an electoral democracy, one loophole in local administrations’ implementing public policies related to religious life is the "electoral trade-off", a practice in which the aspirations of the ruling majority can castrate public policies.
In this context, Kaare Storm and Wolfgang C. Müller (1999:p21) assert that an “electoral trade-off” presupposes the mobilization of political votes for elected leaders in exchange for public policies that favor only supporting voters. In this type of electoral democracy, political votes are the political currency of democracy, their use and allocation converted into various benefits and privileges that are enjoyed exclusively by a select number of voters.
As a result, the elected regional heads do not have the political independence to carry out public policies that should be universal, impartial, just, and equitable for all people. Consequently, the elected leaders no longer represent all citizens without exception, and instead “belong” exclusively to their voters.
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> Winding Road of Religious Tolerance
Whatever the cost, public policies must be oriented towards welfare and prosperity for all (public good). A regional head, to some extent, must be willing to take risks (be a risk-taker) in the execution of public policies for the sake of the public good and guard themselves from making unpopular policies.
In the context of the Cilegon case, the independence of a public official has been held hostage by partisan electoral politics. Public policies that should comply with the Constitution, as well as conscience and rationality, are being controlled or dictated by the aspirations of a certain group that appear to have been the basis of votes (vote-getters) when the regional head won the mayoral election.
This is the weak point of an electoral democracy that must be improved in the future, so that our democracy does not erode the very values of democracy, which are harmony, tolerance, and mutual prosperity.
Act of omission
In a country that has adopted electoral democracy like Indonesia, a violation of religious freedom by nongovernmental perpetrators that is allowed or protected by government officials can be categorized as an act of omission by the state.
The state might not be directly involved in violating religious freedom, but its inability to guarantee its citizens’ right to worship can be classified as a violation of human rights under the act of omission.
It is necessary that regional leaders equip themselves with knowledge about these forms of human rights violations to avoid a similar case from occurring in the future.
In the context of enforcing human rights, the state’s role in interfaith violations related to the establishment of houses of worship can be raised from an act of omission to an act of commission in terms of the degree of the human rights violation. Various forms of human rights violations as regards religious life, such as the persecution of minority groups, may look like an act of omission, but only on the surface, while they in fact have the potential to be categorized as an act of commission.
It is necessary that regional leaders equip themselves with knowledge about these forms of human rights violations to avoid a similar case from occurring in the future.
MASDAR HILMY
Masdar Hilmy, Professor and postgraduate program director at Sunan Ampel State Islamic University (UIN) Surabaya; member of the Advisory Board of the East Java Nahdlatul Ulama Scholars Association (ISNU)
This article was translated by Musthofid.
