Regulating Places of Worship in Indonesia: Upholding Freedom of Religion for Religious Minorities
![handle is hein.journals/sjls2007 and id is 100 raw text is: Singapore Journal of Legal Studies
[2007196-116
REGULATING PLACES OF WORSHIP IN INDONESIA:
UPHOLDING FREEDOM OF RELIGION
FOR RELIGIOUS MINORITIES?
MELISSA CROUCH*
Focusing on places of worship in Indonesia, this paper examines whether the right to freedom of
religion for religious minorities is protected by recent changes to the law. The paper begins by
looking at an Old Decree, which was an attempt by the New Order to control religion and came to
be used as justification by radical Islamic groups to close churches. Given a number of key changes
in the law since the end of the New Order, this Old Decree became obsolete. The second part of
this paper analyses the New Regulation. It does this by charting the debate surrounding the New
Regulation, outlining the present framework of the Regulation and then discussing the response of
the public since its introduction. The final part reflects on why the New Regulation was passed by the
government and suggests options to restore the right to freedom of religion for religious minorities
in relation to places of worship.
I. PLACES OF WORSHIP, PLACES OF VIOLENCE
Places of worship have often been the target of religiously motivated attacks in
Indonesia. Although such religious conflict is not a new occurrence, the recent
intensification of attacks on places of worship of religious minorities is alarming.
In 2005, an estimated 50 Christian churches in West Java alone,1 and at least
10 Ahmadiyah2 mosques, have been damaged or forced to close by radical Islamic
groups.3 In the same year, Hindu temples were vandalised in Bali.4 This violence
B.A./LL.B. (University of Melbourne). The author is currently completing her Articles of Clerkship at
Lewis Holdway Lawyers, Melbourne. She is also a research assistant with the Federation Fellowship
Islam and Modernity, at the University of Melbourne Asian Law Centre. Unless otherwise stated, all
translations in this article are by the author.
U.S., Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, International Religious Freedom Report: Indone-
sia (15 September 2006), online: U.S. Department of State < http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/> ['US
Bureau'].
2 Ahmadiyah, also commonly known in Indonesia as Jemaah Ahmadiyah Islamiah (JAI), is classified as
an Islamic sect, mainly because it believes that there was another prophet after Muhammad. See ll.B.,
below, for further discussion on Ahmadiyah in Indonesia.
3 Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Jakarta, Laporan Hukum and Hak Asasi Manusia: Ketika Negara Bersimpuh
di Hadapan Kuasa Modal (Jakarta: LBH, 2005) at 60-61.
4 US Bureau, supra note 1.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/sjls2007&div=8&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Regulating Places of Worship in Indonesia: Upholding Freedom of Religion for Religious Minorities
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