1 post tagged “religious freedom”
As reported by Unspun, Malaysian blogger Mat Salo is feeling the heat from recent Indonesian coverage of Malaysian religious freedom:
His main target is Badawi’s Islam Hadhari, with Luthfi stressing the concept to be flawed, and preceded to shred two of the “Ten principles of Islam Hadhari”, namely:
Luthfi stated various recent examples to back his argument, and include “the conversion issues”
- Freedom and independence for the people
- Protection of the rights of minority groups
summarizing with
Wow, this is all heady stuff. On the one hand, Luthfi appeared to be right. But are they, really?
But for Luthfi’s essay to appear on the influential editorial page of Indonesia’s premier English broadsheet means Badawi’s Islam Hadhari is being watched very closely by its neighbor Indonesia, which may or may not spell anything on the diplomatic front.
Is the criticism justified? In this case, I think it is. As I commented on Unspun:
When it comes to the legal status of Islam, Indonesia is certainly a more liberal country than Malaysia, though getting a mixed marriage recognised is getting slightly harder (due to the belated application of the 1974 Law on Marriage, requiring a religious ceremony before the issuance of a civil marriage license. Mixed couples without access to an understanding member of the clergy could always get married abroad, though).
We don’t “re-educate” people who commit apostasy either. Celebrities have been known to do it without people batting an eye — though if you live in a rural area of conservative Aceh, Sumatra Barat or Jawa Barat, you probably wouldn’t want to stay put afterwards. Alas, when it comes to church-building, or legal rights for any religion outside the officially-recognized six, Indonesia still has much to improve. Try claiming to be a Baha’i, or a Jew, on your KTP (IC) !
