You’re probably sick of hearing about the depressing rise of religious intolerance in Indonesia by now, but it’s a problem that won’t go away until major changes are made at both a societal and governmental level.
One of the many causes blamed for this increase in interreligious strife amongst Indonesians is “provocative” religious speakers, whom some observers say are getting emboldened thanks to the increasingly widespread coverage they get in the mainstream media.
Take, for example, controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who is currently touring Indonesia. While speaking at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Bandung on Sunday, he told the audience (as quoted by Viva), “Don’t allow non-Muslims to become your leaders, if there are other choices. If non-Muslims lead you, than we will not be able to receive help from Allah.”
Despite having been banned from preaching in India, Bangladesh, Canada and the United Kingdom due to his extremist rhetoric, his speeches here have gotten extensive coverage in the local media, giving him an even larger platform for his views.
It is not clear if there is any connection with Zakir’s visit to Indonesia, but the country’s minister of religious affairs, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, said today that his ministry was working on guidelines aimed at preventing provocative religious lectures in houses of worship.
“The religious affairs ministry is preparing a guide / guidelines for all houses of worship to feature religious lectures with good material that protects, unites, and builds harmony among religious believers, not the contrary,” said Lukman at the Presidential Palace yesterday as quoted by Kompas.
“Do not allow religious lecture materials that contain negative things, provocations, even hateful attacks on other religions. This is what we are preparing,” he said.
The religious affairs minister said the guidelines would be submitted to all houses of worship in Indonesia, but would leave the choice of speaker and the subjects of their sermons up to the wisdom of each house of worship’s leadership council.
“In principle, a house of worship should not be a place to spread hatred and hostility. On the contrary, houses of worship should unite us through our shared religious values,” Lukman said.
