KUALA LUMPUR (IslamOnline) – Indonesia is enjoying religious freedom and has always promoted the respect of all religions, in step with the country’s constitution, the Panchasila. However, major religions have been under the clamp for political motives in the past.
Under the Panchasila the state acknowledges the freedom of all faiths, including Judaism. Yet the Panchasila has also created mistrust among the Muslims toward the motives of the state.
Islamists in Jakarta believe that the clamp on major faiths during the Suharto reign resulted in the conversion of a huge number of Muslims to Christianity. The policies as enacted under the Panchasila have also prevented non-Muslims from embracing Islam freely in the past, have promoted freedom of choice in religious matters, and resulted in a mixture of multi-religious households in the archipelago.
"The government has never had a problem with the theological teachings of any religion," said Djohan Effendy, chief of the Ministry of Religious Affairs' Research and Development Agency. He added that limitations to the practice of Confucianism were politically motivated by the previous government in response to the abortive 1965 Communist coup.
The government of Indonesia does not have any written regulation defining the recognition of other faiths besides Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism. Yet there are no regulations prohibiting other religions to be practiced in the archipelago. Under the Panchasila, religious freedom means conversions are allowed and religion is declared in the Identity Cards of Indonesian nationals.
During the tenure of Amir Machmud as home minister from 1973 to 1978, Indonesians were asked to choose between the five main religions on the islands. A presidential decree issued in 1962, and enacted in 1967, states that six religions, including Confucianism, were recognized, and did not close the door on other major faiths to develop here.
Djohan said that it was also cited that the Jewish religion was also given as an example of other faiths that may develop in Indonesia under the Panchasila's freedom of religion enactments.
Religious freedom does not scare the Islamists, who contend that Islam is an open faith that allows others to practice their religions. "We Muslims respects the other faiths. What we don't understand is why it is possible for Muslims to change their religion and become "murtad" [apostate] in a country of more than 180 million Muslims," said Pak Zaki, a member of the anti-Panchasila drive.
Pak told Islam-Online that many Muslims in Jakarta had been encouraged in the past to convert to Christianity. Some of these converts display their ID cards with pride, indicating that they bear Muslim names but their religion is listed as Christian.
In the 1970's alone, Indonesia was declared as having a population of 180 million, out of which more than 90 percent were said to be Muslim. A recent official population census indicates, however, that the number of Muslims has decreased and that of Christians has increased tangibly.
"This is alarming. Politicians claim that poverty has led the Muslims to other religions," Pak said, adding that this is "absolute nonsense. Muslims should not be allowed to be murtads and Islamic laws should be applied in such cases."
Yet many other Muslims do not agree with Pak, who is of Arab origin and resides in a comfortable 1970s built house in East Jakarta. His house is behind a Masjid and his parents are followers of the Tabligh movement, a socio-religious non-political Muslim organization with worldwide membership. The Tabligh generally is not part of the anti-Panchasila group which is forming itself in Jakarta.
Critics of the anti-Panchasila movement in Indonesia range from President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Sukarno Puteri. They believe that Indonesia will have to continue with the Panchasila since, as they both have said, "It is the only way for the nation to remain united."
Figures to support the claims by Pak that "murtads" have been on the rise in recent years are not available. Such data is not relegated a high priority in the country, Pak said.
The anti-Panchasila movement is pinning high hopes on the merger of four major Muslim parties into one, called Axis, to be the force behind Islamic activity and unity in the future.
"What we need now is a solid financial organization that will assist poor Muslims all over the archipelago," Pak said. He and others believe that Muslims have been inactive for too long. They have had their heritage challenged by politicians of non-Islamic beliefs and secular Muslims who led the country during the years of Suharto.
"Arab and Muslim nations should help Muslims worldwide," Pak said, arguing that the current trend of conversions to Christianity has taken a massive blow with the surge in violence by Christians against Muslims in Sulawesi, Borneo, the Malukus and Jakarta.
Many believe that under past regimes, Christians were not only protected but preferred. Citing an example in Riau, Pak said the Muslims in the island’s capital, Dumai, had to divert the main access road to the capital because the former governor allowed a church to be built on the road.
"The Christians built a church right in the middle of that major traffic road. The church dominates the city of Dumai, which is 80 percent Malay Muslim," he said.
Pak also called on Muslims who have chosen other faiths to come back to their original religion. "It is ghastly to see in one family a Muslim sister marries a Hindu, a brother marries a Buddhist, and another one a Christian and all of them practice their own religions."
