6 - The Inter-religious Harmony Forum, the Ombudsman, and the State: Resolving Church Permit Disputes in Indonesia?

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Conflicts between religious communities over sacred sites and places of worship, particularly concerning religious minorities, frequently feature in the media and continue to be matters of global debate. At the heart of these issues are often legal attempts or proposals for reform to regulate where and how a religious community can build a place of worship. In Indonesia, the introduction of tighter legal regulations on permits for places of worship has done little to curb conflict over church permits, with difficulties experienced by some churches in the majority-Muslim province of West Java.

This chapter explores the role that the law plays in promoting religious harmony by regulating the permit process for a place of worship in Indonesia. It examines two institutions involved, the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum, which is the main committee at the regional level that approves permit applications, and the national Ombudsman, which can investigate complaints against government authorities. The Bogor Church Permit Case will be discussed to demonstrate that in some areas, the Forum have exacerbated inter-religious tensions by recommending the cancellation of church permits and disputes have escalated beyond their control. This has led some Christian congregations to complain to independent bodies such as the Ombudsman, as well as taking action in the Administrative Courts (Pengadilan Tata Usaha Negara) to resolve the dispute. All cases in the Administrative Courts have been successful in favour of the church, but only some churches have been able to enforce the court decision and continue to build churches. Others, like the church in Bogor, continue to face opposition from the local government in defiance of the Administrative Court. This poses a threat to the integrity of the courts and raises questions about whether religious minorities can have faith in the law and legal processes in Indonesia.

PERMIT APPLICATION PROCESS

The Inter-religious Harmony Forum

The Inter-religious Harmony Forum was established by a Joint Regulation of the Minister of Religion and the Minister of Home Affairs in 2006 following the escalation of violent attacks against religious minorities in 2004–05. It replaced a ministerial degree that was widely considered to be in contradiction to the commitments the Indonesian government has made to human rights and religious freedom since the transition to democracy in 1998.