Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:04:08.358Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Disputes Over Places of Worship in Indonesia: Evaluating the Role of the Interreligious Harmony Forum

from PART 4 - RELIGION AND ETHNICITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2019

Ihsan Ali-Fauzi
Affiliation:
Director, PUSAD Paramadina, Jakarta
Get access

Summary

Disputes over places of worship (rumah ibadat) have become an increasingly common type of interreligious conflict in Indonesia in recent years, replacing the sectarian violence that racked areas such as Ambon (in Maluku) and Poso (in Central Sulawesi) during the early reformasi period (Panggabean, Alam and Ali-Fauzi 2010). Although conflict over sites of worship occurs mainly between Muslims and Christians, disputes within faith communities are also common, as when Sunni Muslim groups protested against the presence of Ahmadi mosques in West Java (Crouch 2014: 159). This type of conflict signifies the complexity of relationships between majority and minority religious groups in a plural and democratic Indonesia.

Statistics on disputes over places of worship can be found in the reports of institutions specialising in religious freedom, such as the Wahid Foundation (2017) and the Setara Institute (2018). Although these publications provide valuable data on violations of religious freedom, they seldom delve into how and why such incidents occur. In addition, their main focus is, understandably, on transgressions against religious freedom, such as attacks on houses of worship, rather than on incidents where religious tensions have been managed effectively and conflict has been avoided. Departing radically from these reports, Ali-Fauzi et al. (2012) investigated the factors that gave rise to complex cases involving church construction in the greater Jakarta region. They analysed the variety of influences in different cases, paying particular attention to why some were successfully resolved, resulting in the building of the church, whereas others led to protracted legal, political and sometimes physical conflicts, some of which still continue. Panggabean and Ali-Fauzi (2015), meanwhile, located disputes over places of worship in the context of religious freedom and the role of the state, particularly the police, in protecting the rights of religious minorities. Both of these publications emphasised the need to improve police effectiveness and increase the role of religious leaders and civil society organisations in supporting state agencies to maintain freedom of religion.

Building on these previous publications, in this chapter I will look specifically at the role played by the Interreligious Harmony Forum (Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama, FKUB) in managing conflict. These forums were established by a joint regulation issued by the ministries of religious affairs and home affairs in 2006.

Type
Chapter
Information
Contentious Belonging
The Place of Minorities in Indonesia
, pp. 175 - 193
Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×