Indonesia has been urged to repeal its blasphemy laws and provide greater protection to religious minorities – including Christians and the Muslim Ahmadiyya sect – in order to safeguard its reputation as one of the world’s most progressive and tolerant Muslim-majority countries.

“If extremists are allowed to continue to terrorise religious minorities with impunity, Indonesia’s tradition of pluralism and religious freedom will be under threat,” Kiri Kankhwende of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) told ENInews.

CSW is a Christian organisation working for religious freedom through advocacy and human rights in the pursuit of justice.

According to CSW’s Advocacy Director Andrew Johnson, “over the past two years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of violent attacks against religious minorities in Indonesia, which is a cause for serious concern.”

Hundreds of Islamic extremists burnt down Christian churches in Indonesia on 8 February, two days after a mob lynched three alleged heretics — all of them members of the Ahmadiyya sect — in the latest outbreak of religious violence.
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