Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:18:59.847Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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.

Type
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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amicus. 2011. Judicial Review of Law Number 1/PNPS/1965 Concerning the Prevention of Religious Abuse and/or Defamation.Google Scholar
Aminah, Siti, and Khoirur Roziqin, Muhammad. 2015. “Pemantauan Kasus Kasus Penodaan Agama di Indonesia Periode 2012-2014 [Monitoring Blasphemy Cases in Indonesia for the Period 2012–2014].” Jurnal Keadlian Sosial 5: 25–59.Google Scholar
Anindya, Chaula R. 2017. “2017 Jakarta Election—Alternative View: Beyond Religion.” RSIS Commentaries No. 078. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University.Google Scholar
Bagir, Zainal Abidin. 2013. “Defamation of Religion Law in Post-Reformasi Indonesia: Is Revision Possible?” Australian Journal of Asian Law 13 (2): 1–16.Google Scholar
Bali Post. 2017. “Video: Diduga Menista Agama, Pemilik Akun Donald Bali Ditangkap [Video: Suspected of Insulting Religion, Account Owner Donald Bali is Arrested].” July 26. http://www.balipost.com/news/2017/07/26/16098/Diduga-Menista-Agama,Pemilik-Akun...html (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar
Butt, Simon. 2012. “Indonesia's Constitutional Court: Conservative Activist or Strategic Operator?” In The Judicialization of Politics in Asia, ed. Dressel, Björn. Abingdon: Routledge, 98–116.Google Scholar
Butt, Simon. 2018. “Religious Conservatism, Islamic Criminal Law and the Judiciary in Indonesia: A Tale of Three Courts.” The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 50 (3): 402–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butt, Simon, and Lindsey, Tim. 2012. The Constitution of Indonesia: A Contextual Analysis. Oxford: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
Calvert, Clay. 2019. “First Amendment Envelope Pushers: Revisiting the Incitement-to-Violence Test with Messrs. Brandenburg, Trump, & Spencer.” Connecticut Law Review 51 (1): 117–154.Google Scholar
Calvert, Clay, and Richards, Robert D.. 2002. “Free Speech and the Right to Offend: Old Wars, New Battles, Different Media.” Georgia State University Law Review 18 (3): 671–719.Google Scholar
Cochrane, Joe. 2014. “An ethnic Chinese Christian, breaking barriers in Indonesia.” The New York Times. November 22. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/world/asia/an-ethnic-chinese-christian-breaking-barriers-in-indonesia.html (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar
Cohen, David. 2018. Interpretations of Article 156a of the Indonesian Criminal Code on Blasphemy and Religious Defamation (A Legal and Human Rights Analysis). Jakarta: Indonesian Institute for the Independent Judiciary.Google Scholar
Constitutional Court of Indonesia. 2010. Putusan Nomor 140/PUU-VII/2009. Jakarta: Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia.Google Scholar
Crouch, Melissa. 2012. “Law and Religion in Indonesia: The Constitutional Court and the Blasphemy Law.” Asian Journal of Comparative Law 7: 1–46.10.1017/S2194607800000582CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crouch, Melissa. 2016. “Constitutionalism, Islam and the Practice of Religious Deference: The Case of the Indonesian Constitutional Court.” Australian Journal of Indonesian Law 16 (2): 1–15.Google Scholar
Crouch, Melissa. 2017. “Negotiating Legal Pluralism in Court: Fatwa and the Crime of Blasphemy in Indonesia.” In Pluralism, Transnationalism and Culture in Asian Law, ed. Bell, Gary F.. Singapore: ISEAS, 231–256.Google Scholar
Denning, Alfred. 1949. Freedom Under the Law. London: Stevens & Sons Limited.Google Scholar
Faiz, Pan Mohamad. 2016. “The Protection of Civil and Political Rights by the Constitutional Court of Indonesia.” Indonesia Law Review 2: 158–179.10.15742/ilrev.v6n2.230CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenwick, Stewart. 2017. Blasphemy, Islam and the State: Pluralism and Liberalism in Indonesia. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fiss, Joelle, and Kestenbaum, Jocelyn G.. 2017. Respecting Rights? Measuring the World's Blasphemy Laws. U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.Google Scholar
Freedom House. 2010. Policing Belief: The Impact of Blasphemy Laws on Human Rights.Google Scholar
George, Cherian. 2016. Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offence and its Threat to Democracy. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262035309.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gunn, Geoffrey C. 2018. “Indonesia in 2017: Shoring up the Pancasila State.” Asian Survey 58 (1): 166–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halili. 2016. Supremasi Intoleransi: Kondisi Kebebasan Beragama/Berkeyakinan dan Minoritas Keagamaan di Indonesia 2016 [Supreme Intolerance: The State of Freedom of Religion/Faith and Religious Minorities in Indonesia 2016]. Jakarta: Pustaka Masyarakat Setara.Google Scholar
Harsono, Andreas. 2019. “Indonesia's President Urges Delay on Criminal Code Vote.” Human Rights Watch. September 23. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/23/indonesias-president-urges-delay-criminal-code-vote (Accessed September 24, 2019).Google Scholar
Hasyim, Syafiq. 2015. “Majelis Ulama Indonesia and Pluralism in Indonesia.” Philosophy and Social Criticism 41(4-5): 487–495.Google Scholar
Hatherell, Michael, and Welsh, Alistair. 2017. “Rebel with A Cause: Ahok and Charismatic Leadership in Indonesia.” Asian Studies Review 41 (2): 174–190.10.1080/10357823.2017.1293006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hefner, Robert A. 2016. “Indonesia, Islam, and the New U.S. Administration.” The Review of Faith and International Affairs 14 (2): 59–66.10.1080/15570274.2016.1184444CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzaepfel, Caleb. 2014. “Can I Say That? How an International Blasphemy Law Pits the Freedom of Religion Against the Freedom of Speech.” Emory International Legal Review 28(1): 597–648.Google Scholar
Ingber, Stanley. 1984. “The Marketplace of Ideas: A Legitimizing Myth.” Duke Law Journal 1 (1): 1–91.10.2307/1372344CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Peter. 1980. “Blasphemy, Offensiveness and Law.” British Journal of Political Science 10 (2): 129–148.10.1017/S0007123400002064CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilcrease, Bethany. 2014. “Radical Anti-Catholic Protestantism and When It Was Dark: The Novel and the Historical Context.” English Literature in Transition, 1880–1920 57 (2): 210–230.Google Scholar
Lawton, David. 1993. Blasphemy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Lazuardi, Iqbal Tawakal. 2017. “Buni Yani Divonis 1.5 Tahun Penjara [Buni Yani Sentenced to 1.5 Years in Prison].” Tempo. November 14. https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1033655/buni-yani-divonis-15-tahun-penjara (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar
Lea, Henry Charles. 1906. A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume I. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lim, Merlyna. 2017. “Freedom to Hate: Social Media, Algorithmic Enclaves, and the Rise of Tribal Nationalism in Indonesia.” Critical Asian Studies 49 (3): 411–427.10.1080/14672715.2017.1341188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsey, Tim. 2012. “Monopolising Islam: The Indonesian Ulama Council and State Regulation of the ‘Islamic Economy’.” Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 48 (2): 253–274.10.1080/00074918.2012.694157CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsey, Tim, and Crouch, Melissa. 2013. “Cause Lawyers in Indonesia: A House Divided.” Wisconsin International Law Journal 31 (3): 620–645.Google Scholar
Lorch, Jasmin. 2019. “Islamization by Secular Ruling Parties: The Case of Bangladesh.” Politics and Religion 12 (2): 257–282.10.1017/S1755048318000573CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, Joss. 1998. Word Crimes: Blasphemy, Culture, and Literature in Nineteenth Century England. Chicago, IL and London: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McCargo, Duncan. 2012. Mapping National Anxieties: Thailand's Southern Conflict. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.Google Scholar
Menchik, Jeremy. 2014. “Productive Intolerance: Godly Nationalism in Indonesia.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 56 (3): 591–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mietzner, Marcus. 2017. “Indonesia in 2016: Jokowi's Presidency between Elite Consolidation and Extra-Parliamentary Opposition.” Asian Survey 57 (1): 165–172.10.1525/as.2017.57.1.165CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mietzner, Marcus. 2018. “Fighting Illiberalism with Illiberalism: Islamist Populism and Democratic Deconsolidation in Indonesia.” Pacific Affairs 91 (2): 261–282.10.5509/2018912261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, David. 2007. Blasphemy in the Christian World: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nastiti, Aulia, and Ratri, Sari. 2018. “Emotive Politics: Islamic Organizations and Religious Mobilization in Indonesia.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 40 (2): 196–221.Google Scholar
Olle, John. 2009. “The Majelis Ulama Indonesia Versus ‘Heresy’: The Resurgence of Authoritarian Islam.” In State of Authority: The State in Society in Indonesia, eds. van Klinken, Gerry and Barker, Joshua. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, 95–116.Google Scholar
Osman, Mohamad Nawab Mohamad, and Waikar, Prashant. 2018. “Fear and Loathing: Uncivil Islam and Indonesia's Anti-Ahok Movement.” Indonesia 106(October): 89–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, Daniel. 2018. “Blasphemy, Human Rights, and the Case of Ahok.” The Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 2: 52–94.Google Scholar
Picard, Michel. 2011. “Introduction: ‘Agama’, ‘Adat’, and Pancasila.” In The Politics of Religion in Indonesia: Syncretism, Orthodoxy, and Religious Contention in Java and Bali, eds. Michel, Picard and Madinier, Remy. London and New York: Routledge, 1–20.10.4324/9780203817049CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Post, Robert C. 1988. “Cultural Heterogeneity and Law: Pornography, Blasphemy, and the First Amendment.” California Law Review 76 (2): 297–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prayoga, Andhika. 2015. “Breakfast Jurisprudence: Bagaimana Agama Dapat Memengaruhi Hakim Dalam Memutus Perkara Berdimensi Kebebasan Beragama dan Berkeyakinan [Breakfast Jurisprudence: How Religion Influences the Decisions of Judges in Cases with Religious and Faith Dimensions].” Jurnal Keadilan Sosial 5: 1–11.Google Scholar
Purdey, Jemma. 2006. Anti-Chinese Violence in Indonesia, 1996–1999. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Schafer, Saskia. 2017. “Understanding Piety and Anger in Indonesia's 2016 Islamic Mass Rallies.” In Piety, Celebrity, Sociality: A Forum on Islam and Social Media in Southeast Asia, eds. Slama, Martin and Jones, Carla. American Ethnologist, November 8. http://americanethnologist.org/features/collections/piety-celebrity-sociality/understanding-piety-and-anger-in-indonesias-2016-islamic-mass-rallies (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar
Setijadi, Charlotte. 2017. “Ahok's Downfall and the Rise of Islamist Populism in Indonesia.” ISEAS Perspective 38: 1–9.Google Scholar
Shah, Dian A.H. 2014. “Constitutional Arrangements on Religion and Religious Freedom in Malaysia and Indonesia: Furthering or Inhibiting Rights?” The Indonesian Journal of International and Comparative Law 1: 260–299.Google Scholar
Sihombing, Uli Parulian, Siti Aminah, Pultoni, and Khoirul Roziqin, Muhammad. 2012. Ketidakadilan Dalam Beriman: Hasil Monitoring Kasus-Kasus Penodaan Agama dan Ujaran Kebencian atas Dasar Agama di Indonesia [The Godly Injustice: The Results of Monitoring Cases of Blasphemy and Religious Hate Speech in Indonesia]. Jakarta: The Indonesian Legal Resources Centre.Google Scholar
Singghi, Emanuel Gerrit. 2019. “What has Ahok to do with Santa? Contemporary Christian and Muslim Public Theologies in Indonesia.” International Journal of Public Theology 13 (1): 25–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanghellini, Geovanni. 2017. Lost in Dialogue: Anthropology, Psychopathology, and Care. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Strang, Robert R. 2008. “‘More Adversarial, but Not Completely Adversarial’: Reformasi of the Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code.” Fordham International Law Journal 32 (1): 188–231.Google Scholar
Streckfuss, David. 2011. Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason, and Lèse-Majesté. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sumaktoyo, Nathanael. 2017. “Ethnicity and Jakarta's Election.” New Mandala. February 13. http://www.newmandala.org/ethnicity-jakartas-election/ (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar
Suryadinata, Leo. 2017. “General Gatot and the Re-emergence of Pribumi-ism in Indonesia.” ISEAS Perspectives 49: 1–7.Google Scholar
Suryadinata, Leo. 2019. “Identity Politics in Indonesia: The Meliana Case.” ISEAS Perspectives 4: 1–8.Google Scholar
Telle, Kari. 2018a. “Blasphemy and ‘Hate Spin’ Campaigns in Indonesia.” The Immanent Frame. December 14. https://tif.ssrc.org/2018/12/14/blasphemy-and-hate-spin-campaigns-in-indonesia/ (Accessed September 24, 2019).Google Scholar
Telle, Kari. 2018b. “Faith on Trial: Blasphemy and ‘Lawfare’ in Indonesia.” Ethnos 83 (2): 371–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Theodorou, Angelina E. 2016. “Which Countries Still Outlaw Apostasy and Blasphemy?” Pew Research Center July 29. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/29/which-countries-still-outlaw-apostasy-and-blasphemy/ (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar
Thorne, Guy. 1903. When It Was Dark. London: Greening.Google Scholar
Tomsa, Dirk. 2017. “Indonesia in 2016: Jokowi Consolidates Power.” In Southeast Asian Affairs 2017, eds. Malcolm Cook and Daljit Singh. Singapore: ISEAS, 149–162.Google Scholar
Van Bruinessen, Martin. 2013. “Introduction: Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam and the ‘Conservative Turn’ of the Early Twenty-First Century.” In Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam: Explaining the “Conservative Turn”, ed. van Bruinessen, Martin. Singapore: ISEAS, 1–20.10.1355/9789814414579CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Ian. 2016. “Out of the Rubble: Jakarta's Poor and Displaced Seek a Vehicle for their Voice.” Indonesia at Melbourne. October 4. https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/out-of-the-rubble-jakartas-poor-and-displaced-seek-a-vehicle-for-their-voice/ (Accessed June 7, 2019).Google Scholar