Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) blamed politics for the increasing number of attacks against religious minorities and warned that religious tension would escalate as the country headed toward election year.
Newly installed Komnas HAM chairman Otto Nur Abdullah said on Thursday that discrimination against religious minorities, including the closure of places of worship, increased around local and regional elections.
The campaign to shut down Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) in Bogor, West Java, gathered pace soon after Mayor Diani Budiarto was elected in 2008. The same pattern emerged in Aceh Singkil Regency.
"It happened with churches in Singkil. Candidates made agreements with certain religious groups, which resulted in the closure of the church. This mix of politics and religion results in intolerance," Otto said.
In Bogor, the dispute about the building permit for GKI Yasmin started five months prior to the local election and lasted until the election was over. The church was officially sealed in December 2010. The Aceh Singkil administration closed some 20 Christian churches over illegal permits on May 1, just a month after the local election.
Otto believed the influence of Wahhabism, centered in the Middle East, had also contributed to growing intolerance in the country and that this strand of Islamic thinking had been adopted by local politicians to boost their credibility.
"Indonesia is a target for such transnational Islamic thought. The ideas have been adopted by political parties and turned into a political movement. The more followers the party has, the more people, including the police, will take their side," Otto told reporters.
Otto said that the National Police were the only hope to stop the rise of these radical groups and hoped that the corps could be neutral and strictly impose the regulations whenever religious attacks took place.
Komnas HAM previously announced that it had received 5,442 reports of human rights violations between January and November this year, with 1,635 being committed by members of the National Police.
Another report from human rights watchdog the Setara Institute has also cited the National Police as the top rights violator, having direct involvement in at least 40 of 371 religious clashes in 2012.
Meanwhile, research by human rights group Imparsial concluded that the National Police were involved in discriminatory practices against minority groups by omission, but also actively took the initiative in punishing religious minority groups.
Imparsial said that police in a number of cities joined local authorities to curb the freedom of minority groups. Imparsial found that the police were responsible for the local joint decision (SKB) that outlawed the Ahmadiyah sect in Manis Lor, Kuningan, West Java, in 2002.
The report further says that the military police of Siliwangi Military Command in West Java were responsible for a covert operation, Operasi Sajadah, which was a deliberate oppression of Ahmadiyah in the province.
Deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna said that they could do little in the face of politics.
"We are conscious of human rights. We have internalized human rights values. However, we are very much influenced by politics. The country's leadership and public policies determine our responses when dealing with religious conflicts," Nanan said.
"Public pressure has further influenced our actions. This is what happened in West Java when Ahmadis were attacked. It's difficult to respond. The majority forced us to take action against the Ahmadis."
Recent attacks on minority groups
Oct. 25, 2012: Idul Adha celebrations in Bandung, West Java, are marred by an attack by members of the hard-line group the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) on An-Nasir mosque, home to hundreds of Ahmadiyah followers who were later barred from performing Idul Adha prayers and slaughtering animals during the Islamic Day of Sacrifice.
Aug. 26, 2012: A crowd descends on Shia minority villages in Sampang, Madura, East Java. Two die in the attacks and dozens of homes are destroyed.
April 22, 2012: Local Muslim groups break up a HKBP Filadelfia church service in Tambun, Bekasi.
April 20, 2012: A crowd of around 150 people from various Islamic organizations, including local residents, vandalize the only mosque left for Ahmadiyah followers in Singaparna, Tasikmalaya.
Feb. 17, 2012: No one is injured when a crowd of about 50 people vandalize a mosque used by 200 Ahmadiyah followers in Cipeuyeum, Cianjur regency, West Java.
Jan. 22, 2012: At least 70 supporters of two hard-line groups and officers from the municipality's public order agency force the congregation of GKI Taman Yasmin church to halt a Sunday service being held at the house of a church follower.
Jan. 1, 2012: Members of hard-line Muslim groups attempt to prevent GKI Taman Yasmin churchgoers from conducting the first Sunday service in 2012 near the sealed church.