Jakarta – Members of religious minority groups have again spoken of the misery they have suffered for years due to what they claim is state-sponsored persecution.

Speaking at a forum for victims of human rights abuses organized by the Coalition for Justice and Truth on Wednesday, religious minority group members said the state had forced them to conform to the major religions.

DK, 38, said she was unable to get birth certificates for her children because her family subscribes to the Djawa Sunda religion. She also did not have a national ID card or marriage certificate.

"To be recognized as citizens in our own country, we were forced to declare our faith as one of the official religions," she said. "The politics of conformity betrays the Constitution and our unique differences," she added.

She said those who practiced religions other than one of Indonesia's six officially endorsed faiths were not considered citizens. "The government has systematically killed our beliefs and culture," she said.

The six official religions are Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

The government has forbidden followers of indigenous faiths to state their religion on their ID cards. Recently, members of the House of Representatives decided to retain the policy during the deliberation of an amendment to the Civil Administration Law.

Djawa Sunda is an indigenous religion, which according to its followers, existed long before the Abrahamic or Vedic religions came to Indonesia. The religion was developed when Indonesia was under Dutch rule, DK said. Initially, she added, the religion had revolved around the development of art and culture as a way to fight colonizers.

Since the Japanese occupation period, marriages carried out by Djawa Sundas were considered illegitimate. "Because of our beliefs, my father was paraded around the village and rocks were hurled at him," she said. "Radical Islamists tried to burn down our place of worship," she added.

N, an Ahmadi, said his family in recent years had experienced at least 13 serious incidents in which they were persecuted. "We are currently refugees in our own country," the 44-year-old said.

He said the police discriminated against Ahmadis, consistently blaming them for inciting violence. "We have love for all, we hate no one," he said. Nia Syarifuddin, coordinator of the Unity in Diversity Alliance (ANBTI), called on the government to stop asking its citizens to state their religion on national IDs to prevent further division between followers of different faiths.

She said the government should treat all religions the same and to respect indigenous religions."The religions the government recognizes have all been imported, they are not indigenous to Indonesia," she said. (asw)