Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Pluralism and freedom in Indonesia has faced challenges since the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict against secularism, pluralism and liberalism in 2005, and the deaths of two key pluralism figures.

Clerics in East Java recently suggested the issuance of a fatwa forbidding female Muslims from straightening their hair and from holding pre-wedding photo sessions.

They said hair straightening was haram for women as it could lead to immoral acts if the intention was to improve physical appearance, while pre-wedding photos should be banned because in such circumstances men and women were unmarried but already mingling with the opposite sex.

The clerics also forbade Muslim women from riding an ojek (motorcycle taxi) or becoming an ojek driver due to concerns that a woman might touch or be close to a member of the opposite sex, or expose haram parts of her body.

The same gathering consisting of 250 leaders of Islamic boarding schools in Java and Madura, had previously endorsed a fatwa that forbade Muslims from using Facebook.

Under such conditions, Ulil Abshar Abdallah a Muslim intellectual, said this country needed figures like the late Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid or Nurcholis Madjid (Cak Nur), who could promote pluralism and oppose MUI's delegitimization of pluralism.

"We need role models like them that can be looked to by people when facing pluralism issues," he told a discussion conducted by the newly established Journalist Association for Diversity (SeJuK) on Thursday.

He said that was what Indonesia had been lacking since the death of Gus Dur and Cak Nur. Gus Dur died on Dec. 30, 2009, after years of health problems, while Cak Nur passed on in 2005.

The edict has even generated criticism towards activists promoting pluralism. "That makes us defensive," Ulil said.

Siti Musdah Mulia, chairwoman of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), said the Indonesian government was still discriminating against those who had non-mainstream beliefs.

The government recognizes five religions; Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam and Confucianism.

"People who don't subscribe to the recognized six faiths have to lie when applying for identity cards simply because they do not want to get into trouble or be reported by the subdistrict officials," Musdah said.

She added that the conditions had worsened with the behavior of legal enforcers who found it difficult to separate their roles as legal enforcers and as religious devotees. "They often designate themselves as faith judges," she said.

The chief editor of The Jakarta Post, Endy M. Bayuni, on the other hand, considered that freedom of expression in Indonesia had been widely opened up despite efforts to limit it.

As examples, he cited the book banning by the Justice and Human Rights Ministry and the Attorney General's Office, and the wiretapping regulation that the Communications and Information Ministry was trying to take over. "But thanks to the Internet, we can fight against that mentality."