The Jakarta Globe:
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sought on Friday to defend Indonesia against accusations that the republic was descending into greater religious intolerance.
“It cannot be justified if an individual or a group forces its beliefs onto others,” the president said in an speech prior to Independence Day. “And certainly not with threats, intimidation or violence.”
The president called on the country’s rich diversity, emphasizing that discrimination on religious grounds was contrary to the interests of the country.
“I want to remind all Indonesian people that the state fully guarantees the existence of individual or minority groups,” he said. “We have to prevent violence that disturbs the social fabric and national unity.”…………………..
A file photo shows an Ahmadiyah Mosque destroyed by mobs in Haurwangi, Ciranjang, Cianjur, West Java on Feb.18, 2012. (JG Photo/Rezza Estily)
In the same month, Satpol PP sealed the Al Misbah Ahmadiyah mosque in Bekasi under the authority of the city’s mayor, Rachmat Effendi, citing a regulation by the West Java government and joint-ministerial decree on the embattled sect. The decree prohibits the Ahmadiyah from proselytizing, but does not preclude the minority religious group from conducting activities pursuant to their religion.
Meaningless words from the President. Indonesia’s government, at least at the local level, certainly allows religious intolerance or turns a ‘blind eye’ to it. In turn, at the federal level, the government mouths platitudes, but takes little or no action. If the incidents of violence against minority religions, particularly any Muslim sect, occurred in the western world as they do in Indonesia (and numerous other Muslim countries e.g. Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, as well), the Muslim world would be voicing outrage from the mountain tops. But, no, Muslim countries largely ignore it within their own borders. That can’t be honestly denied. I suppose one could say the problem is not Islam, rather the problem is Muslims.
Yes, we need to see action, not only words.