Indonesia ‘to guarantee rights of religious minorities’

Wreaths displayed to honor those killed in the suicide bomb attack in the Kampung Melayu bus terminal, East Jakarta on May 24 2017. Indonesia's image of a secular nation is under treat as it faces increased influence of extremist Islamist groups. (Photo: Open Doors International)
Indonesia is drafting a law that will guarantee the rights of religious minorities in the country, according to the head of the country’s Ministry of Religion’s Interfaith Harmony Forum. “The government [currently] only recognises six religions, while more than four million people who follow religions outside of those six are . . . Read More

Indonesia President blames democracy for ills

Indonesia’s President has blamed rising religious intolerance in the country on democracy. Joko Widodo said democracy has “gone too far” and that “political freedom paved the way for extreme political practices”. Human Rights Watch’s Deputy Director for the Asia region, Phelim Kine, wrote that while Indonesia “unquestionably has a problem . . . Read More

VIDEO: Amidst hopes of Jokowi, Indonesian Christians remain concerned

VIDEO: Amidst hopes of Jokowi, Indonesian Christians remain concerned
In Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, the number of cases of religious intolerance doubled during 2014 – to 67, according to a recent report from the Southeast Asian nation’s National Commission on Human Rights. About 30 of these cases were about the closure or vandalism of churches, . . . Read More

Indonesian clerics dispute president’s ‘world statesman’ award

Indonesian clerics dispute president’s ‘world statesman’ award
According to the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a world statesman who promotes religious tolerance. According to the Clergy Forum of Jakarta, Banten and West Java in Indonesia, Yudhoyono turns a blind eye to oppression of minority religions in his own country. The forum on . . . Read More

Top 10 Stories of 2011

Top 10 Stories of 2011
Unceasing, accelerating incidents of bloodshed in Nigeria topped World Watch Monitor’s top 10 news stories of 2011 as Boko Haram and other Islamic extremists lashed out at Christians. Following this top news story was the assassination of Pakistan’s only Christian cabinet member in March 2011; the upholding of the death . . . Read More

Indonesia: anti-Christian incidents nearly doubled in 2011

Indonesia: anti-Christian incidents nearly doubled in 2011
Acts of violence and intolerance against Christians in Indonesia almost doubled in 2011, with an Islamist campaign to close down churches symbolizing the plight of the religious minority. The Indonesian Protestant Church Union, locally known as PGI, counted 54 acts of violence and other violations against Christians in 2011, up . . . Read More