BLASPHEMY LAW: CURSE OR BLESSING?

Confronting blasphemy Duncan Graham

Indonesia normally makes international news only for terrorist attacks and disasters like landslips, ferry capsizes and aircraft crashes.

Reporting these tragedies tends to eclipse other significant but less startling issues underway in the world’s most populous Islamic country and third largest democracy.

A judicial review now underway has the potential to make this country of 240 million a more liberal society.

Indonesia’s Blasphemy Law is being challenged in the nation’s Constitution Court by Muslim liberals, backed by Protestants and Catholics, under the rubric of the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Faith. They claim the legislation is at odds with the Constitution that allows freedom of religion.

The reality is different. Indonesian citizens have to carry ID cards that include the holder’s religion. This must be one of six religions approved by the government – Islam, Catholicism, ‘Christian’ (meaning Protestant), Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Those with no religion or who follow another faith you are listed as Muslim by default. Visitor guides warn atheists not to disclose their views in any discussion with locals. Questioning a stranger about their religion is standard in even the most casual encounters.

The Blasphemy Law, passed in 1965, was allegedly designed to keep hotheads under control in a country where religious slurs can rapidly lead to violence, and it’s no dead letter. Here’s one example:

Last year in an East Java jail I met and tried to interview a group of 11 Protestants imprisoned for blasphemy.

The room was crowded, noisy and stiflingly hot. There was no furniture. Visitors had to squat on the floor at the feet of the standing guards.

No surprisingly the chat was not a great success. The nervous few who did agree to talk were reluctant to comment on their situation except in whispers.

That wasn’t the situation outside. Mainstream Christian leaders were keen to denounce the prisoners and staged a major public event to fulsomely apologise for their colleagues’ faults.

Stupidity would have been a better term. The men who’d been arrested and sentenced to jail terms of up to four years had been in a training seminar organised by the Indonesian Student Ministry, also known as Campus Crusade.

This organisation has been running for 50 years, though before this event it was barely known outside the Protestant churches and Christian universities. But this time they made a DVD of their activities. This fell into the hands of a Muslim leader Muhammad Nidzhom Hidayatullah.Nidzhom was the executive secretary of the local branch of the peak Islamic body Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), the Indonesian Muslim Scholars' Council.
The 10-minute video showed about 40 people in a room, most dressed in traditional Muslim clothes – the women wearing headscarves, the men in sarongs and rimless caps. At the front a preacher waved a book that appeared to be a copy of the Koran.At one stage in the proceedings the book was put on the floor. In a grainy and shakily-shot scene the participants formed a ring and condemned the text with angry words and gestures.

Nidzhom is a moderate. Instead of using the video to trigger mob violence he discussed the issue with colleagues and local Protestant leaders, including
Pastor Johan Haryono.

"They (Campus Crusade) have walked too far, gone beyond the boundaries, been too emotional,” said Pastor Haryono."To be an evangelist is to love, but they are committing blasphemy against the Koran. That is evil. I have no idea why they did this."The tragedy is that we've lost the trust of Muslims and this must be retrieved. We have to improve our internal networking so this doesn't happen again."We are grateful to all the Muslim leaders. What they did was very good. They kept the balance." Despite this the police prosecuted and the courts convicted.

But the Blasphemy Law hasn’t just been used against insensitive fringe groups attacking other faiths. In the last two years fundamentalist Muslims calling themselves the Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) and claiming to be defenders of the law have been targeting Ahmadiyah. This is an Islamic sect that says Mohammed was not the last prophet.

Ahmadiyah mosques have been firebombed and worshipers assaulted. At one stage they were considering fleeing to Australia to seek asylum from religious persecution.

The present challenge to the legislation was triggered by these attacks, and FPI members violently ambushing a peaceful rally of liberals in central Jakarta. The legal action is being opposed by the Religious Affairs Ministry, which claims any change in the law will create chaos.

Also hostile are radical Islamic groups including the FPI, which has attempted to disrupt hearings. They say dumping the law will lead to Indonesia becoming a secular nation led by ‘neo-liberals’.

Despite some well-reasoned arguments there seems to be little chance that the law will be changed. Although those pushing for a judicial review have mustered an impressive list of authorities, they’ve lost their principal backer, the former president Abdurrahman Wahid, also known as Gus Dur.

A leading Islamic scholar and one-time head of the 40-million strong Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, Gus Dur was a noted liberal and supporter of pluralism. He died last December after being sick for many years.

Even if the Blasphemy Law was dumped or modified its unlikely that this would have an immediate impact on society. There’s a long history of individuals ignoring laws they don’t like, and that includes public servants.

The addition of Confucianism to the list of Indonesia’s approved religions only occurred in 2000 when Gus Dur was president. But ethnic Chinese complain that local officials still refuse to acknowledge the change.

(First published in On Line Opinion Monday 22 March 2010)

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AUSTRALIAN-RI RELATIONSHIPS

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
Duncan Graham

We’ve just had a week of whinges, as Australians call complaints. Politicians, academics and the commentariat have been bemoaning the state of Indonesian-Australian relationships.

There’s been plenty of basa-basi but little frank talk, though to be fair Ati Nurbaiti (13 March) identified the flawed rule of law as an impediment.

Eavesdrop any group of Ockers at Ngurah Rai waiting for their Airbus and the key talking points are personal encounters with petty corruption and cheating. These experiences stick, eclipsing memories of a generous culture, cheap food and great bargains. It’s not a good look.

Nor is Australia’s maintenance of travel warnings. Anyone going overseas has to watch their wallet. If you can’t follow the news and keep your nose out of demos then you shouldn’t be in charge of a passport. Do Australians really need the nanny state to tell them to take care?

If it came to a toss-up between getting lost after dark in Surabaya’s Dolly, full of pimps, prostitutes and drunks, or Perth’s Northbridge nightlife district with its heavy police presence, then I’d prefer the East Java capital’s sleaze center anytime.

(And just for the record, my experiences in Dolly have been purely for journalistic research.)

There’s one simple way for us to get to know each other better. Make travel easier. Compare Indonesia’s visa-on-arrival (US $25 = Rp 230,000) with Australia’s pre-departure 14-page application form and AUD $105 (Rp 880,000) fee.

Australia allows Malaysians, but not Indonesians, to apply for visas on line. The cost: AUD $20 (Rp 168,000).

Apart from the easier visa system, Indonesian tourism is the pits. Despite an army of uninformed government tourism officials, lots of silly slogans and fatuous promotions, Indonesia can’t hold a candle to its nearest rivals.

Tiny sterile Singapore attracts twice as many tourists as this extraordinary archipelago, while uptight Malaysia doubles that again. The figures prove my case.

Tourism is a highly competitive mega business in Australia and the rest of the West. It’s powered by agents who really know their stuff. They’re licensed, work in comfortable brightly lit offices in shopping malls and enthusiastically offer holidays almost everywhere in the world.

Want to compare prices? Have a big glossy brochure in flawless English, thick with details of flights and special hotel deals. Free? Of course. Morocco or Manhattan? The Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids? No problems. How about a cruise? North, South, East or West? You choose.

Want a recommendation? Ask anything, the chances are the staff have been there and can give you the good oil, which in Ozspeak means the right information.

Compare this with the travel agents in Indonesia. The ones I have to deal with in Indonesia work in musty rooms with 15 watt lighting. They print out schedules using machines with so little ink it’s almost impossible to read dates and times.

So no wonder our favorite consultant missed her freebie flight to Singapore sponsored by an airline so she could be better informed of her product. She misread her own ticket.

Why pick Indonesia? Tour wholesalers overseas do a good job with Bali, but ignore the rest of the country. Want to know why? Take a look at the quality of some of the official websites, like that for Surabaya’s Tourism Promotion Board (www.sparklingsurabaya.com). Get ready for a gigglethon, like this encouragement for visitors to go shopping:

Not many really enthusiastic of it, but antiques bussiness have never decline. However, this bussiness needs time to make money. More old the antiques, more money we can get. It is also happened in Surabaya. Mostly start from hobby.

More serious was the site’s advertised exchange of 1 US dollar to 6,605 rupiah when this newspaper was quoting 9,231. Hardly a great invite to take the next plane to Juanda.

In blunt terms, terus terang, Indonesian tourism has to lift its game.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono highlighted the large numbers of Indonesians studying in Australia, Sorry Sir; these people are not a representative sample. Most are ethnic Chinese and the pampered sons and daughters of top officials who can afford the high fees.

The people who should really be studying in Australia for the greatest impact on their return are the smart young Javanese with brains but no cash. Then they could pass on the skills they’ve learned to their colleagues.

At the moment Australia offers just a handful of post-graduate scholarships. It could and should do much more.

So could Indonesia. The working holiday visa scheme for 18 to 30 year olds, included in last year’s Free Trade Agreements between Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand is still in its early stages.

The dogs are barking that RI officials fear this reciprocal deal will mean Indonesia will be swamped by young Westerners taking jobs from the locals.

What nonsense. Can you imagine Aussie students wanting to be satpam (security guards) or rubbish pickers for Rp 500,000 (US $55) a month? The only jobs they might do would be as English teachers – though the Ozzie twang might deter many school principals.

The scheme has let tens of thousands of young people from most European countries, Japan and elsewhere visit Australia and supplement their stay by taking short-term jobs. They get to boost their English and their wallets while learning about the customs, values and idiosyncrasies of their host country.

If Indonesians join the throng then people like me might no longer be confronted by angry young men tugging their wispy beards, like those who heckled a lecture I gave at an Islamic institution.

“Your country is evil,” they said, “it allows free sex.”

Had they ever been to Australia? “No,” they said, “but we know what you do.”

An isolated example of SBY’s ‘preposterous caricatures’? I wish. But little different from the Ockers who swear they’ll never visit Indonesia, but holiday every year in Bali.

(First published in The Jakarta Post 18 March 2010)

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