Muslim minority within the majority

Your June 26 editorial highlighting the growing concerns of non-Muslim Indonesians about the subtle and not so subtle forms of religious persecution they face is an important issue because it deals with the rule of law and how it is applied.

The recent statement of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of Indonesia addressing the growing sense of unease is timely. They rightly address the issue from legal and constitutional aspects. Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) principle and the unitary state of Indonesia clearly uphold the rights of every Indonesian citizen to worship God and perform the requirements of their Faith according to the dictates of their conscience for the wellbeing of the country.

It would seem as if this is indeed the case, as your editorial suggests *that during Jusuf Kalla and incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's five years in power, some 50 regencies have adopted Sharia law without either leader lifting a finger' and *that hundreds of churches have either been destroyed or damaged by acts of violence'. Not that the two are necessarily related.

It seems to me that an important issue of legality is at stake here. Are there laws under the Constitution that guarantee a person's right to live according to their religious beliefs or not? We are told there are. What then is the problem?

The President himself is on record as saying that Catholics have an important role to play in the social development of the country and has called on them to be models of morality and solidarity in the county.

But can they be expected to do this if they are not assured of their rights by law and are in effect, along with other non-Muslims, second class citizens in what is a democratic country? This situation as it stands just doesn't make sense. Surely a Muslim minority within the Muslim majority pressing for Sharia law does not by any stretch of the imagination reflect the will of the people.

The majority have opted for a democracy, not a theocracy. And does this desire for Sharia law originate in home grown wisdom or has it been recently imported? How would it have stood in 1945? And is it legal and binding according to the Constitution?

The biggest contradiction in all this is that the Catholic Church proclaims a message of love and service based on the rights and duties of men and women towards God and for the common good which naturally gives it the obvious potential for being among the country's greatest assets and supporters.

Genuine Catholic teaching is always at the service of the State in so far as the State is legitimate, just and seeks the common good. Why then shoot your best friend in the foot? It's treatment at present, along with other non-Muslim religions, shows the government persists in a very limited understanding of Catholicism and other religions, and indeed of the country's laws and history.

These are not the minorities the government or the people of Indonesia should be concerned about. Rather it should be concerned about those Muslim minorities who wish to impose Sharia law by stealth or any other means and those politicians who use them for political expediency.

The Catholic bishops in their own right and as leaders of the Catholic community are right to raise these issues of law with the politicians and they and all Indonesians have a right to clear and legal answers.

Meanwhile I will continue to thrill as I am reminded of God's existence by the hauntingly beautiful call to prayer from the local mosques and as I hear Mass at my local church on Sunday. That's part of what makes living in Indonesia a wonderful experience. Please God it remains so