Traditional believers face discrimination, violence

Secular Indonesia is failing to protect adherents of around 200 traditional belief systems and indigenous faiths





Women followers of some of Indonesia’s traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths, offer prayers during a recent gathering in Jakarta. (Photo by Katharina R. Lestari)

 

Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta 
Indonesia

August 9, 2016

Dian Jennie Cahyawati, a follower of the traditional Javanese spiritual movement Sapta Darma, almost cried when she recalled the psychological burden that thousands of children from her community carry.

"They feel stressed when they have to adopt one of the six recognised religions and put its teachings into practice in their schools," she said.

Cahyawati regularly offers a counseling program to elementary and junior high school children from her community in East Java province. Six months ago, she had a heart-to-heart talk with them.

"I realize how sad they are. In their schools, they are often bullied for worshiping an unknown god. Worse, their teachers force them to pray according to a religion which isn’t their belief," she added.

Many community members are unwilling to leave the religion column on their identity cards blank even though Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo announced two years ago that citizens not adhering to one of the six recognised religions — Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam and Protestantism — shouldn’t be forced to list their traditional beliefs or indigenous faiths on their cards.

"There will be consequences, particularly for civil servants. They think that by leaving the religion column on their identity cards blank their careers will be hampered," Cahyawati continued.

Sapta Darma is one of about 200 traditional belief systems and indigenous faiths in the predominantly Muslim country. It is named after Sapta Darma Hardjosapoero, who received spiritual revelations in East Java on Dec. 26, 1952. It now has tens of thousands of followers living in 18 provinces.

Similar issues are faced by followers of the indigenous faith of the Sundanese people called Sunda Wiwitan, which appeared before Hinduism entered the archipelago around the first century AD and has at least 2,500 members living in five districts in West Java province.

"In terms of education, we have approached some schools in Kuningan district. Only a few schools — not all — have had a major breakthrough: they serve children from our community and those students will receive questions for an exam in religious study from us," Dewi Kanti said.

Unlike followers of Sapta Darma, many followers of Sunda Wiwitan choose to leave the religion column on their identity cards blank. "At least, we don’t lie about our faith," Kanti added.

It’s risky though. "Members of our community that work as civil servants find it difficult to get promotions," she said.

 

Church’s view

For the Catholic Church the solution lies in developing both theory and practice. "It seems that only schools with both theory and practice can resolve many things. This is how I see it," said Jesuit Father Cyprianus Kuntoro Adi, executive secretary of the Commission for Education of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference.

"The challenge is how to enliven the values upheld by a religion, such as respect for human dignity, diversity, justice and the environment. Both curricular and extra-curricular activities are needed to deal with these," he added.

Sadly, the existing curriculum mentions only the six recognized religions, he said. "Education is for all people from all backgrounds."

According to the Jesuit priest, society should respect traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths as well as the six recognized religions.

"If we want to develop our education system, such context is very important," Father Adi said.

 

Discrimination and violence

According to the Jakarta-based National Commission on Violence against Women, followers of traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths continue to face discrimination and violence.

In its 135-page report launched on Aug. 3, the commission records complaints from 57 women from 11 communities in nine provinces between 2010 and 2015. For these women aged between 11 and 68, the commission found 115 cases: 65 cases of discrimination and 50 cases of violence.

Discrimination included the unfair treatment of children in the education system and ignorance shown by government officials in administrative affairs, while violence included instances of stigmatization and psychological intimidation.

"This report aims to reveal the state of constitutional rights for women who are followers of traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths," said Khariroh Ali, head of the commission’s Women in Constitution and National Law Desk.

 

Government’s response

Muharram Marzuki, head of the Religious Affairs Ministry’s Religious Life Research Centre, said the ministry never tolerates discrimination and violence against followers of traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths.

"In fact, the ministry is drafting a bill to protect the faithful, which deals with these issues," Marzuki said.

The ministry plans to finish the draft of the bill by the end of this year.

Similarly, Teten Masduki, chief of the presidential office, said such discrimination and violence should not happen. 

Society came first before governance was formed, he said. "I think this is the principle we must hold on to." 

However, an official from the sub-directorate of traditional beliefs at the Education and Culture Ministry admitted that traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths haven’t yet been included in the curriculum.

"If the communities are organized, it would be easy for us to offer advocacy. The understanding about traditional beliefs and indigenous faiths among the society remains low. Of course, this influences the policy taken by the government," they said.

http://www.ucanews.com/news/traditio...violence/76794

Miris sekali