Anita Rachman, Makassar (South Sulawesi) – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali defended Indonesia's blasphemy law at a conference of the nation's largest Muslim organization, and asked the group for its support as the law undergoes a court challenge.

Without the stricture against blasphemy, people "could establish new religions, declaring new prophets, new angels," Suryadharma said during a plenary session in front of thousands of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leaders here. "It could cause the breakdown of harmony". Freedom is not absolute," he added. "There must still be rules."

The 1965 law recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. Other religions are officially banned.

The law also bars variants of recognized religions, particularly Islam. In 2008, the government invoked it to ban Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect which believes that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet of Islam. That claim is a serious departure from mainstream Muslim beliefs.

Indonesia's Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the law after it was challenged in 2009 by the late President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid and several human rights organizations.

In a series of emotional, sometimes raucous hearings, witnesses have described suffering discrimination under the law, while conservative Islamic organizations have rallied in its support.