Ansyor Idrus, Palembang – Certain residents in Talang Kelapa subdistrict, Alang-alang Lebar district in Palembang, South Sumatra, were up in arms Thursday over the construction of a Hur

Jakarta – The Religious Affairs Ministry is considering the creation of a directorate general for Confucianism, a Chinese philosophy that was banned during the New Order era and was onl

Elaine Pearson – Exactly three years ago, on 6 February 2011, some 1,500 Islamist militants stormed the Ahmadiyah community in Cikeusik village in western Java.

President Yudhoyono is all talk and no action when faced with government officials and militant groups intent on curbing the rights of women and religious minorities.

Camelia Pasandaran, Jepara, Central Java – A new report by the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, a nongovernmental organization that conducts human rights and political freedom

Josua Gantan – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali claimed that Indonesia was a bastion of religious tolerance on Thursday, setting off a chorus of critics who accused the contro

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – A request by the Yogyakarta branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to the police to monitor, freeze or disband institutions or organizations whose m

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Tens of thousands mosques in West Java were built without building permits, head of the West Java chapter of the Indonesian Mosque Council Zulkarnaen said in Bandun

Indah Setiwati and Corry Elyda, Jakarta – Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the inaugural Religious Harmony Day at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on S

Robertus Wardi – The National Mandate Party has called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take concrete action toward building tolerance in the country and to not only engage in e

Vento Saudale, Bogor – The embattled GKI Yasmin congregation in Bogor, West Java celebrated yet another Christmas in a makeshift worship space this year, in exile from their own church,

Bambang Muryanto, Sleman, Yogyakarta – Sleman Regent Sri Purnomo has been criticized by activists of the Yogyakarta Anti Violence Community (Makaryo) for attending a discussion forum on

Ainur Rohmah, Semarang – There were at least six alleged violations of religious freedom and seven cases of religious intolerance committed across Central Java in the period of 2012 to

The Dayak people of Central Kalimantan have expressed their strong opposition to the establishment of an anti-corruption center by the local branch of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI)

Lenny Tristia Tambun – Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has spoken out against the requirement for a religion to be noted on national identification cards.

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Muslim intellectual Dawam Rahardjo won the 2013 Yap Thiam Hien human rights award for what the committee described as his "consistent fight to uphold religious e

Camelia Pasandaran – A beleaguered Ahmadiyah congregation in Bekasi was handed a hollow victory on Thursday when a court invalidated a municipal order to board up the group's mosque – t

Camelia Pasandaran – Two more Indonesian churches have been taken out of commission in Sulawesi and West Java over the last week as Christians and local governments once again locked ho

Camelia Pasandaran & Amir Tedjo – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Sampang, East Java, has done little to resolve long-simmering tensions between local Sunni and Shia M

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.

Camelia Pasandaran – Two Ahmadiyah Muslim families left their homes in Jambi after members of a local Islamic boarding school offered the families an ultimatum: convert to Sunni Islam o

Margareth S.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has once again come under fire for religious intolerance after suggesting that minor religious sects, including Ahmadiyah, should disband them

Jakarta – Champions of pluralism urged the government to heed their call to counter the rise of religious intolerance.

Carlos Paath, Bandung – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on Friday that religious tolerance in Indonesia is among the best in the world, despite some issues he said still

Farouk Arnaz & Camelia Pasandaran – Police in the predominately Sunni province of West Java have refused an application by Shiite Muslims in Bandung to mark the religious day of Ash

Further information on 336/12 Index: ASA 21/036/2013

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – The East Java administration has denied claims that it tried to relocate a group of Shia refugees by force from a housing block in Sidoarjo district to the much mo

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has said there is a possibility that the Shia refugees from Sampang, Madura, who are currently living in a shelter at the Puspa Agro Market co

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Some 15,000 women who embrace traditional faiths sought help from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle on Tuesday, gathering at the party headquarters

Camelia Pasandaran – Hundreds of residents of Siwalan village in Sidoarjo, East Java, assaulted a Koran study group on Saturday afternoon, injuring the group's leader and some of its me

SP/Fana FS Putra – City officials threw their support behind an embattled East Jakarta church as hard-line Islamists rallied against the house of worship in Cipayung, lobbing accusation

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Residents of Jatisampurna subdistrict, Jatisampurna district, have filed a lawsuit against Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi for issuing a building permit for the constru

Camelia Pasandaran – Hard-line Islamists shuttered an Ahmadiyah mosque after reportedly threatening to burn it down on Sunday in the latest example of religious intolerance to plague We

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The fate of displaced Shia Muslims is in the dark as government officials and ulema on Madura Island, East Java, question the validity of the peace treaty r

Dessy Sagita – Activists have lashed out at a Thai university's decision to honor Indonesia's minister of religious affairs, Suryadharma Ali, with a Doctor Honoris Causa title for his e

Sidoarjo, East Java – Displaced Shia Muslims from Sampang regency in Madura, East Java, who for months had taken refuge in Sidoarjo, broke down in tears as they hugged members of the Su

Camelia Pasandaran – It had taken 23 years for the parishioners of Saint Bernadet to be granted a permit to build a church in Ciledug, South Tangerang.

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court (MK) has once again upheld the controversial blasphemy articles that are often used to prosecute minority groups.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The government has made another promise to the displaced Shia followers from Sampang in Madura, East Java – that they will be able to safely practice their f

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Heritage society Sjarikat Poesaka Soerabaja has filed a complaint to the Surabaya municipal administration for allowing the demolition of a Jewish synagogue

Bekasi – Bekasi District Court handed down a suspended sentence to Abdul Azis, who was found guilty of assaulting members of the Toba Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) congregation last ye

Mikael Niman & Camelia Pasandaran, Bekasi – The Bekasi district court on Thursday sentenced a man who threatened a Batak Protestant Congregation (HKBP) church pastor Palti Panjaitan

Jakarta – The Makassar Legal Aid Institute (LBH) has lambasted the acquittal of Nur Ansari, the suspect in the firebombing of five churches in the city, on all charges saying that the v

Arientha Primanita – The government has no plans to disband the Ahmadiyah congregation in Bekasi, despite a request from the municipality.

Phelim Kine – My preparation for a news conference in February launching a Human Rights Watch report on Indonesia's rising religious intolerance included an emergency escape drill.

Worshipers from displaced church congregations took their anger to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's door on Sunday, calling for him to take a leaf out of Jakarta Governor Joko Widod

Sita W.

Jakarta – Around 100 people staged a protest in front of the Lenteng Agung sub-district office in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, on Wednesday, demanding the dismissal of a newly installed Ch

Margareth S.