Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – A district head in West Nusa Tenggara announced plan to relocate 20 Ahmadiyah families to a deserted island, a move many say is both discriminatory and inhumane.

Zaki Pawas, Jakarta – Police in Bekasi arrested a struggling poet and a street singer on Thursday evening, accusing them of involvement in last month's attack on members of the Batak Ch

Rizal Harahap, Jakarta – Public pressure prompted the Pekanbaru city administration to finally close down a house of worship owned by followers of the Ahmadiyah sect.

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – Despite intense public criticism of a 2006 joint ministerial decree requiring neighbors' approval for houses of worship, ministers on Monday said the gover

Erwida Maulia and Theresia Sufa, Jakarta/Bogor – Ahmadiyah followers continue to encounter challenges in Indonesia in practicing their religion freely, with the government sticking to i

Arghea Desafti Hapsari and Theresia Sufa, Jakarta/Bogor – In a bid to seek a "permanent solution" to the burning issue of Ahmadiyah, the government will review the controversial decree

Nivell Rayda, Bogor – Ahmad Zainuddin, 75, had returned home to Cisalada village in Bogor after a trip into Jakarta to pick up his monthly pension stipend, just hours before his home wa

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has again appealed to the nation for calm after members of the minority Ahmadiyah sect in Ciampea, Bogor, were

Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on Wednesday that the government would maintain the controversial joint ministerial decree on establishment of places of worshi

Jakarta – Religious intolerance among Indonesian Muslims has increased in the last 10 years, a new study shows, indicating a link with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the country.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Academics, religious leaders and students in North Sumatra have called on the central government to immediately issue a law regulating on inter-religious relati

Jakarta – Denying claims by hard-line groups, many residents from the Pondok Timur Indah housing complex in Bekasi, West Java, say they do not object to the religious activities conduct

Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta – How difficult is it to build a church in West Java?

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The Golkar Party says the House of Representatives must initiate a bill on houses of worship and pass it into law to replace the controversial ministeri

Jakarta – While in some parts of Bekasi and Bogor relations between Christian congregations and majority-Muslim neighborhoods have soured over vetoed plans to build churches, the interf

Theresia Sufa, Bekasi, Bogor – Before the dust has even settled in two congregations' battles to build churches in Bogor and Bekasi, the cities' authorities are being pointed out as mor

Camelia Pasandaran & Eras Poke, Jakarta – The minister of religious affairs on Monday said there were no plans to revise the joint Ministerial Decree on Houses of Worship despite a

Jakarta – Said Aqil Siradj, the chief of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, said Sunday that 19 "local" religions across the country have requested the government

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Dozens of Christians held prayers inside their boarded-up church near Indonesia's capital Sunday, saying they had as much right as anyone to worship in the wor

Armando Siahaan, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta – Some of the country's lawmakers have joined the chorus of criticism against the 2006 joint ministerial decree on

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – A group of Christian worshippers said they would defy police and the threat of attack to hold Sunday prayers outside their now-boarded-up church near Indonesia

Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has come under fire for planning to disband the Ahmadiyah sect, which he singles out as "misguided".

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The constitutional protection of freedom to worship guaranteed by the state is behind the court's verdict in favor of the churches, says a court official.

Jakarta – The controversial joint ministerial regulation on houses of worship is not only manipulated by hard-liners but also misused by authorities to extort money, says a church leade

Jakarta – The Bekasi administrations of the recently attacked HKBP church is not an effective remedy as other beleaguered congregations in Greater Jakarta continue to face problems desp

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The Religious Affairs Ministry said Wednesday it was open to revision of a 2006 joint ministerial decree requiring local consent on sites for houses of

Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta – Police should not overlook the roles played by local clerics in inciting violence against a Christian congregation in Bekasi, human rights watchdogs have said.

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – The deputy speaker of the House of Representatives has roundly criticized Religious Minister Suryadharma Ali, joining human rights watchdogs in saying the man

Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Jakarta Police on Wednesday named the head of the Bekasi branch of the Islamic Defenders Front a suspect for his alleged role in a brutal attack on two chu

Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta – Islamic leaders on Tuesday defended a government regulation that requires local consent before a house of worship can be established, which pluralism advocates

Candra Malik, Jakarta – About 4,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the government do more to protect Constitution-enshrined religious freedoms in response to Sunday's brut

Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Contrary to earlier media reports on Monday, a Bekasi police official says that they have yet to name suspects for the attack on members of a Protestant ch

Arientha Primanita & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Experts have warned that Sunday's attack on churchgoers in Bekasi could be symptomatic of a growing religious intolerance in

Ulma Haryanto, Bekasi – A church leader was stabbed in the stomach and a reverend beaten during an attack on a group of Christians forced to pray in a field in Bekasi on Sunday morning.

Minister Suryadharma's statements about banning the Ahmadiyah community are reprehensible, and President Yudhoyono should publicly say so.

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – Ignoring the outrage of rights activists, the religious affairs minister on Tuesday reiterated his belief that an outright ban on Ahmadiyah would be good f

Ulma Haryanto, Bogor – Hitting back at the Bogor administration's unexplained decision to again seal off their half-built church last week, members of the GKI Yasmin congregation broke

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Human rights activists have described Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali's proposal to disband the Ahmadiyah congregation as a "setback" and a

Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Aghast by Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali's controversial statements advocating the banning of the Ahmadiyah sect, a number of non

Indonesian officials have again reacted to official discrimination and vigilante violence against the Ahmadiyah by restricting their right to practice their religion.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The formation of new regions in Indonesia is growing at an alarming rate, with a new region created every 15 days, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Wednesday.

The Solidarity for Peace in Diversity (Solidaritas) on Thursday launched a website titled Nusantara Online, aimed at providing complete and constantly updated legal data on the country'

AHRC-STM-032-2010

Filmmaker Frank Smith travelled with Rageh Omaar across Indonesia to see a struggle between two very different visions of the country's future.

Contents

Sara Schonhardt, Jakarta – Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month wielding bamboo spears

Jakarta/Brussels – An Indonesian government decree restricting activities of the Ahmadiyah sect demonstrates how hardline Islamic groups, which have little political support, have been

The Indonesian government should stand up for religious tolerance instead of prosecuting people for their religious views. – Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch

Dear friends,

Yemris Fointuna and Agus Maryono, Kupang, Purwokerto – The regents of East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, and Banyumas, Central Java, have faced criticism over recent religious and mystica