JakartaPost-Aug 18
The Religious Affairs Ministry has pledged to act firmly in addressing recurring incidents of violent intolerance in Indonesia by involving the police and the intelligence agency, while rights groups push for inclusive, grassroots-based solutions. The promise came after a string of attacks on minority religious groups this year, including a mob assault on a Christian prayer house in Padang, West Sumatra, in late July and another attack in Sukabumi, West Java, a month earlier. “We already have a list of recent cases and are handling them on a case by case basis,” Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar said in a statement last week. “We are coordinating closely with security leaders, including the National Police chief, […] and will soon meet with the State Intelligence Agency [BIN] to discuss preventive measures.” The ministry’s Center for Religious Harmony (PKUB) head Adib Abdushomad told The Jakarta Post last Thursday that the minister had instructed the development of an app-based early warning system for local officials and religious counselors to flag potential conflicts. Adib added that the ministry was creating a database of retreats and prayer houses, which often serve as alternative worship sites. He noted that many of these facilities were unfamiliar to local communities, prompting rejections that sometimes turn into conflict, which he downplayed as “miscommunications.” In both the West Sumatra and West Java incidents, local authorities described the violence as a miscommunication, downplaying the gravity of religious intolerance in regions that are among the most intolerant in the country, seemingly to shield perpetrators from accountability. Rights groups have long criticized the government’s muted response, warning that such framing could entrench discrimination and mask deeper systemic problems. At the core of these conflicts, rights groups said, lies the restrictive 2006 joint ministerial decree between the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Home Ministry on establishing places of worship, which imposes strict requirements, including dozens of signatures from local residents and multiple official endorsements. The decree has long been criticized as burdensome for minorities in Muslim-majority Indonesia, where dominant groups often withhold consent. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2025/08/18/religious-affairs-ministry-vows-crackdown-on-intolerance.html.
