President Jokowi gave directions during a limited plenary meeting at the State Palace. (Repro)

AKURAT.CO President Jokowi's commitment to cases of discrimination and prohibition of worship is being questioned. The reason is that until now discriminatory practices related to freedom of religion still occur in a number of regions.

The Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) considers that Jokowi's statement delivered at the National Coordination Meeting of Forkopimda in Bogor, Tuesday (17/1/2023), warning all regional heads to pay attention to the rights of citizens in worship has not been reflected in practice in field.

"This is proven by the recent prohibition of religious activities and stopping of worship, both by local governments and by certain community groups in several places," said PGI Head of Public Relations, Jeirry Sumampow, in a written statement, Wednesday (8/2/2023) .

PGI recorded at least 5 discriminatory cases in the last two months. The first was the Sintang Forkopimda agreement on 26 January 2023, which essentially encouraged the regent to issue a circular banning Ahmadiyah activities.

The two Forkopimda Sukabumi statements on 2 February 2023 stated that they would stop construction and seal the Ahmadiyah mosque in Parakansalak. On the same day, banners against Ahmadiyah activities circulated in several places in Gowa, South Sulawesi.

The fourth discriminatory act occurred in Pasir Angin Village, Cileungsi, Bogor, on 5 February 2023. The surrounding community prohibited and dismissed the worship carried out by the GPdI Metland congregation.

The fifth is in the form of a ban on worship by local residents against the Filadelfia GKIN (Indonesian Evangelical Christian Church) congregation, in Bandar Lampung, Lampung, which also occurred on February 5, 2023.

"The ban is generally carried out on the grounds that the house of worship does not yet have a building permit (IMB) and is on behalf of the majority community," said Jeirry.

PGI has participated in pushing for the guarantee of the right to worship of the Ahmadiyya congregation by the government. Not only Christians. So PGI asked Jokowi to show his commitment to fulfilling citizens' right to worship.

"Appeal to President Ir Joko Widodo's attention to these cases. There needs to be stricter orders and concrete actions to take action against the perpetrators of intolerance so that cases like this don't continue to happen and people are more law-abiding," he said.

PGI also asked the National Police to take firm action against perpetrators of intolerance and participate in guaranteeing or protecting the implementation of religious worship and adherents of beliefs. Equally important, the local government must show its seriousness in fulfilling citizens' right to worship by adhering to the constitution.

"Encourage the FKUB (Religious Harmony Forum) in each of these regions to immediately take on the role of facilitating the process of obtaining an IMB so that houses of worship that do not yet have an IMB can immediately obtain permits," continued Jeirry.

source https://akurat.co/marak-aksi-pelarangan-ibadah-komitmen-jokowi-dipertanyakan