Indonesia's top court has upheld a law requiring citizens to follow a religion before the state system can recognize their marriages and other family records and issue them personal identity cards.

The Constitutional Court asserted this legal provision while rejecting a petition seeking judicial review of a law that required citizens to follow a religion.

Constitutional Court Justice Arief Hidayat ruled on Jan. 3 that having a religion or belief is "a necessity as expected by Pancasila and mandated by the constitution."

The petitioners, who sought to review the law, argued that it discriminated against people who did not adhere to a particular religion or belief and forced them to take religious education while in school or college.

The Indonesian Criminal Code only prohibits the spread of atheism and does not see not following a religion or not believing in a religion as a crime, they added.

But the court said the national ideology of Pancasila (five principles) stipulates belief in one God, a just and civilized society, a united Indonesia, democracy guided by consensus, and social justice for all citizens.

The prohibition against having no religion, Hidayat said, "is a proportional restriction and is not applied oppressively and arbitrarily."

Abdul Mu'ti, the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, welcomed the court decision and called it "very appropriate."

"We are committed to ensuring that every student receives quality religious education as part of an effort to produce a generation that is not only intelligent but also has moral integrity," he said.

Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid said: "The decision is contrary to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Indonesia in 2005."

He said it deviates from the meaning of religious freedom.

Halili Hasan, executive director of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said the decision was a form of coercion to adhere to religions recognized by the state.

Muslim-majority Indonesia officially recognizes six religions – Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism.

"If you don't choose [one of the religions], then you won't have an identity card, your basic rights as a citizen won't be recognized. That is a serious violation of the constitution," he said.

Hasan said the mandatory inclusion of religion in civil records would be reduced to "merely an administrative matter, not a reflection of a person's spirituality."

The religion column in official records was introduced in 1978 as a policy following the anti-communist propaganda of the New Order regime under President Suharto.

This was after the 1965 massacre of around 500,000 communist sympathizers, who were considered non-religious or atheists.

There is no definitive data on the number of atheists in Indonesia, but they are estimated to be around 3.5 million among the nation's 280 million people, according to a study by researcher Hanung Sito Rohmawati.

Catholics currently represent fewer than three percent of the population of Indonesia – some eight million people, compared to the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

Source: https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesian-court-upholds-law-stressing-citizens-religion/10746