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Religious freedom for Indonesian native faiths

Court recognises Indonesian native faiths in victory for religious freedom

·       Jewel Topsfield

·       Karuni Rompies

This story is from The Age of 8 Nov 2017

Dewi Kanti adheres to a traditional Indonesian religious belief system known as Sunda Wiwitan, which venerates the power of nature and the spirit of ancestors.

She is among perhaps 15 million native-faith followers in Indonesia who have been discriminated against for decades by Indonesia's policy of only recognising six official religions.

As it stands, Indonesians have had to list their religion as Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist or Confucian on their national identification cards –or leave the religion field blank.

But those who left their ID cards blank had difficulty registering their marriage, obtaining birth certificates, accessing employment as civil servants and applying for government services.

Now, in an historic victory for religious freedom in Indonesia, the Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday it was discriminatory to require native-faith followers to leave the religion field blank.

Constitutional Court Judge Saldi Isra said this was not in line with the spirit of the 1945 Constitution, which enshrines religious freedom.

The court recommended that a seventh category be created – native-faith followers –  although the card would not specify the particular faith.

Sunda Wiwitan is one of several hundred native-faith beliefs across Indonesia. They follow an animistic system of belief but over time have been influenced by other religions including Hinduism and Islam.

Ms Dewi welcomed the Constitutional Court decision. "Our fight has borne fruit," she said.

"The most important thing is the restoration of civil rights especially for those who have been stigmatised. Under the repressive New Order regime, I was stigmatised as (following) a deviant sect. This is a realisation on the part of policymakers that there has been an abuse of our constitutional rights."

Despite practising a native Javanese faith, Ms Dewi's husband had been forced to put "Catholic" on his ID card so the couple could obtain birth certificates for their children.

She said it was almost impossible to know how many people still adhered to Sunda Wiwitan, because there were no administrative records.

"In 1964 there were around 10,000 to 15,000 of us," she said.

However, blasphemy laws passed in 1965 stipulated only six religions would be officially recognised.

"The New Order regime said it was compulsory for all citizens to follow a religion, this was a policy to fight communism because communism was regarded as atheist or not believing in God," said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the vice chairperson of the Setara Institute for democracy and peace.

"Native faith was regarded as not believing in God because it was ethnocentric."

He said the Constitutional Court ruling provided protection to followers of native faiths and granted equality among followers of other religions.

Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said the court ruling marked the end of Indonesia only recognising six religions.

See also Wikipedia entry - Native Indonesians

See also SETARA Institute

Andreas Harsono - his website

See also Religion of Java

Islam in Australia - a very ancient connection

Picture from here: http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/regions/topend3.php

It should be remembered that settlers in Australia since 1788 

have long had Muslims in their midst. 

 Northern Australia and indigenous people have a longer history. 

 The Editor of this blog can recall a news item 

from when she lived in the Northern Territory between 1993-97. 

A very elderly woman had returned to Australia. 

She had left many decades before because she married a Macassan 

and had now come back to spend her last years on country. 

Each year from the early to mid-1600s to 1906 AD1 at least a thousand ‘Macassans’ – from the extreme corner of the island of Celebes (now modern day Indonesia) – voyaged to northern coastal Australia in search of trepang. Otherwise known as bêche-de-mer, sea cucumber or sea slug, trepang was considered a delicacy in China where it was later sold. Early records including navigator and explorer Matthew Flinders’ A Voyage to Terra Australis (1814) commonly refer to the trepang fishermen as ‘Malay’, but a more accurate term is ‘Macassan’ (Macassar was the major port of origin for many of the boats). During the three hundred or so years of seasonal contact, the coastal societies of northern Australia, from the Kimberly region, across Arnhem Land and down into the southern Gulf of Carpentaria underwent a dynamic process of transformation (Clarke 315-16). The centuries long encounters between Aboriginal and ‘Macassan’ societies produced both wanted and unwanted social change for coastal Aborigines. After all, Indigenous meetings with foreign ‘Macassan’ communities were formed against the backdrop of imperial incursion and cultural expansion from elsewhere. 

Please read more here

Compassion and Social Justice - a conference theme for/from Buddhist women to be held in Indonesia

Dharma Nature Time
<dharmanaturetime@gmail.com>

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are pleased to help share this announcement from Sakyadhita (“Daughters of the Buddha”) International Association of Buddhist Women about the

14th Sakyadhita International Conference on Buddhist Women

in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia

23 to 30 June 2015

The conference theme “Compassion & Social Justice” will be addressed through meditation sessions, educational presentations, workshops, interactive panel discussions, and cultural exchanges. As the organizing committee shared, “All voices are welcome at Sakyadhita conferences: women and men, lay and ordained of all ages, nationalities, religions, and perspectives”. Held every other year in a different country, it is estimated that 300 participants from 45 nations and hopefully 700 from Indonesia will join this 14th Sakyadhita conference.

Venue: Sambi Resort, Jl. Kaliurang km. 19.2, Desa Wisata Sambi. Pakembinangun-Sleman, Yogyakarta

For a conference brochure and information on registration, see:

http://www.sakyadhita.org/conferences/14th-si-con.html

Sharing Art & Religiosity in Surakarta (Solo), Indonesia

I know this is short notice - 

but some readers may be in Indonesia or on the way there. 

~~~~~

Center for Language Development, 

State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Surakarta

and

Padepokan Lemah Putih

cooperatively present

SHARING ART & RELIGIOSITY

Human, Nature and God

to commemorate the 21st Anniversary of IAIN Surakarta

7 to 9 September 2013

at Institut Agama Islam Negeri Surakarta

Jalan Pandawa, Pucangan, Kartasura, Central Java, Indonesia