Komnas HAM, Indonesia LOIPR ICCPR
application was born under the pretext of educating the public about various kinds of
religious beliefs and groups in Indonesia, including those that were included in the
heretical list by the government and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). Among the
injured party of this was the prominent figure Gerakan Fajar Nusantara (Gafatar), Ahmad
Musadeq, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 by the East Jakarta District
Court.
List of issues:
21.
22.
1) How does Indonesia ensure the protection of freedom of religion and belief with
regulations such as the PNPS No.1 of 1965 still in effect? Do you have an action plan
to revoke it?
2) Provide an explanation of the BAKORPAKEM mechanism to ensure that there is no
violation of freedom of religion and belief, especially with the use of Smart Pakem
technology?
3) What is the action plan to abolish BAKORPAKEM as it is not in accordance with the
Constitution and the ICCPR?
From 2015 to 2018, Komnas HAM received as many as 21 complaints related to
oppositions over the construction of places of worship, with the following classification:
unapproved Building Permit (6 cases), closing down, vandalism, and destruction of
places of worship (3 cases), arson at a house of worship (1 case), criminalization (1 case),
obstruction of worship (1 case), no recommendation on the establishment of places of
worship (2 cases), intimidation (1 case), and non-compliance with court decisions (1
case). The factual case number is greater than the recorded number and can be obtained
from various reports of Human Rights organizations in Indonesia. Some of the examples
include the attempted construction of a church in Bantul Regency, Spc Region of
Yogyakarta (2019) and obstruction of the construction of the Asy-Syuhada Mosque in
the Aerujang Housing Complex, Girian Permai Village, Bitung City, North Sulawesi
(2018). Some of the obstruction cases of construction of places of worship over the past
years remain unresolved, as happened to the Church of GKI YASMIN, Bogor, West Java.
The most recent case was the dispute over the Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Karimun
Regency, Riau Islands.
The numerous cases stemmed from the provisions contained in the Joint Ministerial
Regulation of the Minister of Religious Affairs and Minister of Home Affairs (PBM) No.
8 and 9 of 2006 concerning Guidelines for Implementing Duties of Regional
Leaders/Deputy Regional Leaders in Maintaining Religious Harmony, Empowering
Religious Harmony Forums, and Establishing Houses of Worship, which regulate the
establishment of houses of worship to maintain social consensus and harmony. The PBM
is also further regulated in certain regions by more stringent rules requiring more
approvals. This has resulted in minorities in such regions finding more difficulties to
establish places of worship. This can be observed, for example, in Aceh where it initially
required 60;90 to 90;120. This condition also indicates conflicting national with regional
regulations.
List of issues:
1) How does Indonesia ensure that there is no discrimination in the construction of
places of worship?
5