Jakarta – The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy recorded 180 incidents and 412 acts which violated freedom of religion and belief (KBB) in Indonesia in 2020. The majority were committed by state actors.

Jakarta – September 2019, and Veronica Koman was enjoying her final days in Australia. Her studies at the Australian National University were almost over and all that was left was to wait for graduation day.

Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia says that the government cannot just issue a joint ministerial decree (SKB) on uniforms in state schools. The decree must be followed by revoking the 2006 joint ministerial decree on establishing houses of worship.

Jakarta – The press community is calling on Indonesian police chief (Kapolri) General Idham Azis to revoke Article 2d of Kapolri Decree Number: Mak/1/I/2021 on Obeying the Prohibition on Activities, the Use of Symbols and Attributes and Halting the Activities of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Irfan Kamil, Jakarta – Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid says that the government's decree banning, disbanding and halting all organisational activities by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) has the potential to discriminate against and violate the right of association.

Irfan Kamil, Jakarta – The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy has released its human rights performance index for the first year of the second term of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, who were inaugurated on October 20, 2019.

Tsarina Maharani, Jakarta – A report by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) shows that there are an increasing number of violations against the right to freedom of religion and belief every year.

Jakarta – West Papua province has again been recorded as having the worst democracy index. This year (2019), West Papua’s Democracy Index (IDI) was 57.62, even dropping lower from 2018 when it was 58.29 points.

Rakhmat Nur Hakim, Jakarta – Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) Director Asfinawati says that there are three indications of authoritarianism which are still being displayed by the government during the era of reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998.

Achmad Nasrudin Yahya, Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) recorded 38 cases of religious blasphemy between January and May, 2020.

YLBHI Chairperson Asfinawati revealed that there were three pieces of legislation which were used to indict people in these cases.

Jakarta – Former Banjarhits.id chief editor Diananta Putra has been detained at the South Kalimantan regional police (Polda Kalsel) detention centre since Monday May 4.

Bagus F, Bandung – Coinciding with International Women’s Day (IWD) 2020, protesters from the Wanoja Ngalawan Assembly (KAWAN) held a protest action at the Gedung Sate building (the governor’s office) in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung on Sunday March 8.

Jakarta – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo plans to build an underground tunnel connecting the Istiqlal Mosque and the Cathedral Church in Central Jakarta which are located adjacent to each other. The proposed construction will be carried out during renovations to the Istiqlal Mosque which were reviewed by Widodo on Friday February 7.

Egi Adyatama, Jakarta – Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace Deputy Chairperson Bonar Tigor Naipospos says that there is no urgency for the government to build a tunnel of friendship connecting the Istiqlal Mosque and the St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Central Jakarta.

Dwi Putra Kesuma, Sawangan – Opposing the presence of the Ahmadiyah religious sect, a number of people demonstrated and called for the Ahmadiyah headquarters on Jl Raya Sawangan in the Jakarta satellite city of Depok to be torn down.

Muhammad Ridwan – Amnesty International Indonesia has responded to a case involving an interfaith activist from West Sumatra, Sudarto, who has been charged with hate speech. Amnesty believes that Sudarto was in fact defending religious minorities’ right to worship.

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan became the target of subtle insinuations by Jakarta Archbishop Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo after he visited the Cathedral in Central Jakarta for Christmas evening mass on Tuesday December 24.

He insinuated that Baswedan “turned up all of a sudden” in the middle of the Christmas church mass.

Jakarta – Members of the Yasmin Bogor Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) and the Filadelfia Bekasi Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) were again forced to hold their Christmas services in front of the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Wednesday December 25.

Muhammad Ridwan – The Setara Institute for Democracy has released the results of research ranking the level of religious intolerance in Indonesian provinces. The results showed that West Java recorded the largest number of violations against religious freedom or belief between 2014 and 2019.

Jakarta – Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) says that violations against freedom of religion and belief (KBB) occur because the law is bias towards the majority. Imparsial researcher Amelia says that several regulations guarantee the right to freedom of religion and worship but others threaten this freedom.