RELIGIOUS FREEDOM -- CHURCHES UNDER PRESSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000865

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, DRL, DRL/AWH, DRL/IRF
NSC FOR EPHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINS KIRF ID
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM -- CHURCHES UNDER PRESSURE

REF: A. JAKARTA 846


B. 07 JAKARTA 343

C. 06 JAKARTA 5772 AND PREVIOUS

JAKARTA 00000865 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b+d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Activists and Indonesian Christians are
concerned that pressure from extremist Islamic groups on
churches will continue in the lead-up to 2009 national
elections as holier-than-thou demagoguery trumps tolerance.
Authorities have used a 2006 decree regulating licenses for
houses of worship to close at least four churches in 2007
while over 100 were attacked or threatened. Christian groups
continue to try to navigate in a difficult situation where
obtaining an official license can be tricky and Islamic
militants seem to hold the upper hand. That said, the vast
majority of Indonesian Christians continue to worship freely.
END SUMMARY.

CHURCH CLOSURES CONTINUE


2. (C) Church closures and attacks are continuing in areas
of Indonesia. According to church groups, more than 100
churches have faced violent attacks or intimidation in the
past two years (most of the incidents have been in the West
Java and Jakarta regions). At least four West Java and
Jakarta churches were closed in 2007, according to reports
from the Protestant Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI).
Oscar Sinorat, a lawyer representing the closed churches on
the Religious Violence Defense Team (TPKB),a legal NGO, said
he expects pressure on churches to increase in the run-up to
the 2009 elections. Albertus Patty, a Bandung-based minister
and vocal religious freedom advocate, expressed a similar
concern to poloff on April 17. (Note: Roughly 7-10 percent
of Indonesians are Christian, roughly divided among
Catholics, and Mainstream and Evangelical Protestants.)


3. (C) Anic H. T., Director of the Indonesian Conference on
Religion and Peace (ICRP),told poloff April 30 that the
pressure on minority religious groups will likely increase
leading up to the 2009 elections because Islam is such a hot
political commodity in parts of Indonesia. At the local
levels, even parties that at the national level are not
strongly Islamic use conservative Islamic jargon, he said.
"Anti-Islamic labeling is politically very powerful," he
added. As a result, protection of non-mainstream religions
and religious minorities may continue to suffer if government
officials bow to the political popularity of the very
conservative minority. Attacks against Muslim splinter group
Ahmadiyah (ref A),and continuing attacks against churches,
are examples of this, contacts said.

TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY?


4. (C) Extremist Islamic groups use the 2006 Joint
Ministerial Decree on houses of worship to exert pressure on
churches. According to Sinorat, in each of the four church
closure cases, the pattern of threats and closures was the
same: extremist groups from outside the community--such as
the Islamic Defender's Front (FPI) and the Anti-Apostate
Movement Alliance (AGAP)--approach grassroots community
leaders and pressure them to agree to ask a church to close.
They also pressure--in favor of perceived Muslim
interests--the Local Religious Community Forum (FKUB),bodies
set up nationally under the Joint Ministerial Decree, to
resolve problems regarding licensing for houses of worship
(ref B).

5. (C) Extremist groups essentially present church leaders
with forms from the FKUB, stating that the forum has decided
the church should close. Members of one Bogor, West Java
church who received a threat to close told poloff that the
local Ulema Forum had filed complaints with local officials
that resulted in the Bogor Mayor revoking their church's
permit on February 8.


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6. (C) The FKUB is subject to pressure from "outside
interests" and is often used to legitimize church closures,
Jus Felix Mewengkang, a Catholic priest from a closed church
said. This in part is because Christians form a minority in
the FKUBs, where decisions are made by up-or-down vote.
Christians are often reluctant to speak up in communities in
which they are a minority, Sinorat said.

THE LICENSE IS THE THING


7. (C) Many churches face obstacles to obtaining a license,
although members of some churches told poloff they continue
to worship without one in spite of fears of being closed
down. Fewer than 20 percent of the nearly 2000 churches in
West Java are licensed. Extortion was also a factor in
obtaining permits to build or renovate. In one case,
although a Jakarta church had prepared the documentation
legally required for a renovation permit, police advised it
not to renovate because of strong opposition from FPI.


8. (SBU) Some churches have moved services to malls rather
than deal with threats and the challenges of obtaining a
license, one church leader told poloff. Shopping malls in
West Java are home to a growing number of Christian
congregations, with more than 10 in one mall alone, according
to press reports. Worshipers admit that they moved to malls
to avoid intimidation by extremist Islamic groups.

PRESSING INDONESIA


9. (C) Indonesia, over all, has had a positive record in
regard to religious freedom and tolerance. That said, since
the advent of democracy in 1998, that record has taken some
serious hits, including via serious ethno-religious violence
in various regions to pressure on Muslim sects (like the
Ahmadiyah) to the pattern of church closings described above.



10. (C) Given the scope of the problem, we continue to raise
our concerns with the GOI and to contacts in Muslim groups,
and there are Muslim moderates who have underscored their
concerns publicly. The current political season gives the
upper hand to Muslim militants and politicians playing for
votes, however. In the meantime, Indonesia's Christians will
continue to have to navigate within this very difficult
terrain. That said, the vast majority of Indonesian
Christians continue to worship freely. (Note: Mission is
currently preparing its Religious Freedom Report for 2007
which reviews some of these issues.)

HUME