[spectre] Fwd: ::fibreculture:: Jakarta: Indep Arts Centre Under Attack from Religious Extremists

[EAF Director]

>To: fibreculture <fibreculture at lists.myspinach.org>
>From: "Mathieu O'Neil" <oneil at homemail.com.au>
>Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2005 14:45:37 +1000
>
>Forwarding a message from Weng Choy (Substation Arts Centre / Singapore).
>M.
>
>Dear all,
>
>Kommunitas Utan Kayu in Jakarta,  a "sister"
>institution to The Substation has come under
>attack from religious extremists.
>
>Goenawan Mohamad and other artists from the
>community have been camping out at the centre to
>protect the building:
>
>Please send your words of solidarity to
>Community Utan Kayu, c/o Hasif Amini <hasif at gmx.net>
>
>Lucy & Weng Choy
>
>On Monday, 6 September 2005, following fresh
>threats of violence from hardliners, the Utan
>Kayu Community (KUK) released a press statement
>read by its founder, Goenawan Mohamad.  The
>statement is as follows:
>
>1.	We, as workers in the fields of culture,
>media, and education at Komunitas Utan Kayu,
>declare that we will continue our efforts to
>maintain and expand the freedom of thought and
>freedom of expression guaranteed in the
>Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
>2.	We reject all efforts to suppress differences in thought and religion.
>3.	We believe that difference of opinion is
>a God-given right. Further, that discussion and
>difference of opinion play a vital part in the
>democratization of our nation.
>4.	We will not accept any individual or
>group that uses the name of God to justify
>arbitrary threats and violence.
>5.	We will not allow harrassment and
>despotism to prevail thus dragging Indonesia to a
>state of lawlessness and anarchy.
>6.	We call upon the Indonesian security
>apparatus to protect the rule of law as mandated
>by the Constitution.
>
>
>
>1.
>
>In the last month, the Utan Kayu cultural centre
>in East Jakarta has been standing sentry against
>a planned attack by conservative Indonesian
>Muslim groups who feel that the centre's Liberal
>Islam Network (JIL) has insulted them and the
>Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).
>
>In a recent radio talk show, JIL co-founder Ulil
>Abshar Abdala has labeled the edicts issued by
>MUI "foolish."  He publicly apologized for his
>statement, but defended his right to criticize
>the edicts.
>
>Ulil pointed to several edicts that he felt were
>baseless, such as those banning pluralism and
>joint prayers, and especially the one declaring
>the Ahmadiyah sect to be a heretical movement,
>and its followers to be murtad (apostates).
>
>"The Ahmadis have suffered from various physical
>and emotional pressures, such as intimidation,
>threats and the destruction of their mosques,
>while they are in fact a part of Islam," Ulil
>argued.
>
>He said that the MUI should be reformed to better reflect Islam in Indonesia.
>
>"The MUI itself has to reflect the variety of
>Islamic communities that are united in Islam
>despite the differences and diversity between
>Islamic sects," he said.
>
>
>
>2.
>
>The fatwas (edicts) issued by the Indonesian
>Ulemas Council (MUI) concerning intra and
>inter-religious issues in the country have
>generated concerns and criticisms from other
>scholars and the public, and clearly demonstrates
>that there is still a semantic and intellectual
>gap among the religious elites themselves about
>how to deal with religious diversity and freedom.
>Religious freedom does not seem to have won over
>the minds of many religious elites, or for that
>matter, the public in general.
>
>The MUI fatwas that prohibit interfaith prayer,
>interfaith marriage, interfaith inheritance,
>religious pluralism, liberalism, secularism, and
>Ahmadiyah, are largely counter-productive to the
>ideals of freedom of religion and religious
>tolerance when one strand of religious
>interpretation has to be introduced to the public
>in order to attack other interpretations existing
>in the community.
>
>While the edicts clearly contradict the Universal
>Declaration of Human Rights, specifically one
>article of which states that "everyone has the
>right to freedom of thought, conscience and
>religion; this right includes freedom to change
>his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone
>or in community with others and in public or
>private, to manifest this religion or belief in
>teaching, practice, worship and observance", the
>problem is manifest in Indonesia's vague
>constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
>
>Article 28 (e) of the amended 1945 Constitution
>and article 22 of the Human Rights Law No.
>39/1999 both touch upon freedom of religion, but
>provide no strong protections. They do not
>guarantee the freedom of religion as stipulated
>in article 18 of the International Covenant on
>Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Human
>Rights Committee "jurisprudence".
>
>They also do not define what it means to have
>freedom of religion, what the limitations are,
>and what the government's obligations are to
>ensure that the constitutional provisions will be
>respected and can be adjudicated in a court of
>law.
>
>More narrowly, the Indonesian Criminal Code
>(KUHP) contains laws that are also vague and that
>conflict with religious freedoms, particularly
>the right to hold a differing interpretation of a
>religion.
>
>Article 156 (a) of the KUHP imposes maximum 5
>years in jail for "disgracing a religion". The
>problem is that "disgracing a religion" has been
>interpreted to include having a differing view or
>interpretation of a religious question. This law
>not only conflicts with supposed protections in
>the Constitution and 1999 Human Rights Law, but
>it also severely restricts the rights of freedom
>of thought, conscience, and religion as
>stipulated in article 18 of the International
>Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
>
>Article 18 is intended to bar "coercion that
>would impair the right to have or adopt a
>religion or belief, including the use of threat
>of physical force or penal sanctions to compel
>believers or non-believers to adhere to their
>religious beliefs and congregations, to recant
>their religion or belief or to convert."
>
>In a recent controversy, Article 156 (a) of the
>KUHP was applied by the police in Malang to
>investigate Muhammad Yusman Roy for conducting
>Islamic ritual prayers (shalat) in two languages,
>Arabic and Indonesian. In their investigation,
>the police referred to the MUI fatwa, which
>stated that it is against Islamic teachings and
>thus forbidden to use the Indonesian language
>when performing shalat prayers.
>
>For Muhamad Yusman Roy, this was a matter of
>interpretation within Islam. For the clerics in
>the MUI, it was a matter of "disgracing" the
>religion. International human rights standards,
>which provide clear guarantees of religious
>freedom and interpretation, strongly favor Roy's
>position, while vague and contradictory
>Indonesian laws create confusion and leave the
>matter to the discretion of the police.
>
>A fatwa from the MUI declaring Ahmadiyah
>teachings to be against the Koran and thus
>forbidden was used by the IMS to justify a
>violent attack on Ahmadiyah. Not only is it
>inappropriate for groups to use coercion and take
>the law into their own hands, but it is the
>responsibility of the police to protect basic
>religious freedoms. Bogor police did not arrest
>any of the attackers. The authorities there
>rather ordered a halt to Ahmadiyah's activities.
>The Attorney General, Abdul Rachman Saleh, even
>threatened to use his broad powers to ban
>organizations, teachings and books considered to
>be "disruptive to public order," against
>Ahmadiyah.
>
>The government recognized Ahmadiyah as a legal
>entity in 1953. But the Ministry of Religious
>Affairs issued a circular to its regional offices
>labeling Ahmadiyah teachings as heresy because it
>recognizes its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, as a
>prophet.
>
>Ahamadiyah denied all the allegations and stated
>that its teachings were not heresy.
>
>Banning Ahmadiyah, with an estimated 500,000
>followers, would be in clear violation of article
>18 of the ICCPR. The government could be
>adjudicated at the Indonesian Administrative
>Court (PTUN) for imposing such a ban.
>
>The weakness of the 1945 Constitution and the
>Human Rights Law, the existence of Article 156
>(a) of the KUHP, the limited mandate of the Human
>Rights Court that has no power to adjudicate
>human rights cases outside "crimes of genocide"
>and "crimes against humanity," have all created
>serious legal uncertainties.
>
>These uncertainties have created a
>life-threatening atmosphere for individuals or
>organizations that happen to have different
>interpretations of Islam from those decreed
>through MUI edicts.
>
>MUI fatwas are not legally binding instruments
>and thus do not provide a legal foundation for
>authorities to infringe on religious freedoms.
>
>
>
>3.
>
>Clearly, MUI's close relationship with the
>government and its perceived and actual authority
>among the Muslim populace has given it the
>license to monopolize religious interpretation.
>The danger cannot be overstated for a fatwa can
>have considerable implications for the attitude
>of many Muslims. Criticisms leveled by national
>Muslim leaders and the public against certain
>fatwas indicate that they are very much aware of
>the powerful role of such edicts on the minds and
>behavior of the Muslim community. A fatwa can
>influence followers to become violent and
>vandalistic. A fatwa that encourages intolerance
>can be used to justify the use of violence among
>religious followers as attested by the Utan Kayu
>Community's current predicament.
>
>On Monday, 6 September 2005, following fresh
>threats of violence from hardliners, the Utan
>Kayu Community (KUK) released a press statement
>read by its founder, Goenawan Mohamad.  The
>statement is as follows:
>
>1.	We, as workers in the fields of culture,
>media, and education at Komunitas Utan Kayu,
>declare that we will continue our efforts to
>maintain and expand the freedom of thought and
>freedom of expression guaranteed in the
>Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia.
>2.	We reject all efforts to suppress differences in thought and religion.
>3.	We believe that difference of opinion is
>a God-given right. Further, that discussion and
>difference of opinion play a vital part in the
>democratization of our nation.
>4.	We will not accept any individual or
>group that uses the name of God to justify
>arbitrary threats and violence.
>5.	We will not allow harrassment and
>despotism to prevail thus dragging Indonesia to a
>state of lawlessness and anarchy.
>6.	We call upon the Indonesian security
>apparatus to protect the rule of law as mandated
>by the Constitution.
>
>
>
>
>
>Komunitas Utan Kayu
>
>1.      Liberal Islam Network
>
>2.      Radio 68H
>
>3.      Teater Utan Kayu
>
>4.      Institut Studi Arus Informasi (ISAI,
>Institute for the Free-Flow of Information)
>
>5.      Lontar Gallery
>
>6.      Kalam Bookstore
>
>7.      Kalam Journal of Culture
>
>8.      Utan Kayu Library
>
>9.      Tempo Café
>
>(Sources: Ridason Galingging, The Jakarta Post 12
>August 05, Muhamad Ali, JP 8 August 05, JP 07
>Sept 05)
>--
>
>
>--
>Dr Mathieu O'Neil
>Senior Research Associate
>Centre for Social Research
>Research School of Social Science (Coombs Building, 9)
>The Australian National University
>Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
>
>T: +61 02 6260 6124
>F: +61 02 6247 0229
>E: oneil at homemail.com.au
>ANU new media group weblog:
>http://underthesun.anu.edu.au/weblogs/underthesun/
>
>
>
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