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Blasphemy and Judicial Legitimacy in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2020

Adam Tyson Open the ORCID record for Adam Tyson [Opens in a new window]
Adam Tyson*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Adam Tyson, School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, LeedsLS2 9JT, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

When contentious blasphemy laws are pressed into service in fledgling democracies with illiberal tendencies such as Indonesia, critical questions arise about judicial integrity and the political nature of blasphemy trials. Judicial legitimacy in Indonesia is defined according to international standards and conventions. The focus is on judicial propriety rather than the popularity or majoritarian appeal of court decisions. In May 2017 a watershed moment occurred in Indonesia as the former governor of Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (popularly known as Ahok) was found guilty of desecrating religion and sentenced to 2 years in prison. Judgments rendered in politicized blasphemy trials such as these fail to meet standards of impartiality, and when discursive transgressions of a blasphemous nature occur there are deep ambiguities of meaning and intent. This paper contends that the revival of blasphemy as a punishable crime relates to political power calculations and electoral opportunities, and offers an analysis of blasphemy in Indonesia through the quasi-historical lens of a discursive crime premised on the fallacy that religious offence threatens public order. Blasphemy trials are further complicated by the fact that religious authorities and Islamic mass organizations in Indonesia have significant influence over judicial processes.

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Article
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 182 - 205
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2020

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