Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-131-2016

Dear Friends,

Indra Budiari, Jakarta – Mariana Ginting, 69, closed her Holy Bible as members of her congregation, which had just finished a Sunday service at the Pasar Minggu district office in South Jakarta, le

Ganug Nugroho Adi, Surakarta – Former members of the Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) have long ceased association with the organization outlawed by the government, however, they are still findin

Ganug Nugroho Adi, Jakarta – Hundreds of former members of controversial group Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) in Surakarta, Central Java, has demanded the government stop the discrimination aga

Indra Budiari, Jakarta – Religious minorities are continuing to struggle to find appropriate places to worship in Jakarta even though the capital is seen as the most tolerant city in the country.

Jakarta – Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo has urged regional administrations to provide more room for the involvement of the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) in the decision-making processes of the

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saefuddin has called on the South Jakarta municipality to help the congregation of the Batak Karo Protestant Church (GBKP)

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Despite having the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia, unlike neighboring Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, has never made Islam its official religion so as to

Lita Aruperes, Manado – Members of minority groups like Shiites and Ahmadis have suffered persecution in several regions of Indonesia.

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Darman Gerfasius Purba, a follower of indigenous faith Ugomo Bangsa Batak (UBB) in Medan, North Sumatra, once had a dream of joining the Army.

Jakarta – The South Jakarta municipality has closed down the Batak Karo Protestant Church (GBKP) in Tanjung Barat, Pasar Minggu, as a result of protests from neighboring residents for the church re

Sagara Kusuma, Jakarta – Whether you are Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist or an agnostic Indonesian student, today you can be a part of any clique.

Tanjung Balai – The Tanjungbalai municipal administration on Monday asked the Tri Ratna Temple Foundation board to immediately take down the Buddha statue that stands 6 meters tall on top of the te

Agnes Anya, Jakarta – Defying his parents' admonition that he should simply accept his position as a member of a minority community, a young Chinese-Indonesian man has bravely reported to the polic

Margareth S.

Ahmad Junaidi, Ambon, Maluku – Suhadi Cholil of Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University of Yogyakarta said students currently only study their own religions and learn very little about other faiths

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – One day in the 2015 fasting month, the field commander of the Yogyakarta chapter of the Indonesian Islamic Front (FUI), Muhammad Fuad Andreago, led dozens of his men

Yogyakarta has been famous as the Javanese cultural capital and a center of excellence.

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The US-Indonesia Council on Religion and Pluralism will tackle intolerant movements within Indonesia, the council's co-chair has said.

Haeril Halim and Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta/Tanjung Balai – Life has suddenly gone downhill for Meliana, a woman of Chinese descent living in Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra, ever since she complained ab

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The Tanjungbalai Police's move to report a woman for blasphemy after she complained about the volume of loudspeakers at a mosque near her house, which led to the worst raci

Apriadi Gunawan, Tanjung Balai – The Tanjung Balai Police will proceed with the legal prosecution against two suspects, Budi Herianto and Rifai Zuharisyah, who allegedly incited racial unrest in th

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The National Police have declared a war against hate speech on social media by arresting two people in Jakarta and Banten for posting racist messages on the web relate

Margareth S.

Haeril Halim and Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta/Tanjung Balai – While social media has been influential in effecting positive changes in society, it can have the opposite effect, as witnessed by the comm

Jakarta – The country's second-biggest Muslim group, Muhammadiyah, has called for greater religious and racial tolerance in North Sumatra following the burning down and destruction on Saturday of s

Jakarta – Mosque and church caretakers say they always use the Idul Fitri holiday as an opportunity to strengthen interfaith friendship and cooperation.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) plans to meet the new National Police chief, Comr. Gen.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has demanded more involvement from the central government in addressing a surge in cases of intolerance across the country.

Jakarta – Denpasar, Bali and Sumedang, West Java, are among regions where its administrations have been criticized by the national rights body for their poor performance in resolving religious free

Manado – North Sulawesi is making a name for itself as one of the country's most religiously harmonious regions, with the latest example a recent breaking of the fast event involving Muslims and Je

Jakarta – West Java maintained its poor record as the most intolerant province in the country, according to findings by a national rights body revealed on Thursday.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called on the government to immediately help members of Muslim minority groups Shia and Ahmadiyah return to their hometowns and li

Jakarta – The Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) has called on the mass media to be balanced in its reporting of news related to minority groups in Indonesia.

Jakarta – Amid the growing Islamic radicalism that has influenced many countries, including Indonesia, the country has to look no further than local wisdom to teach children peace and tolerance.

Jakarta – The East Lombok Police criminal investigation division released eight Ahmadiyah followers from Bagik Manis village, East Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday after detaining th

Agnes Anya, Jakarta – Most of the time, mosques are seen as places restricted only for Muslims to pray and carry out other religious activities.

Jakarta – An inter-religious breaking-of-the-fast gathering, or iftar, attended by former first lady Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday had to be relocated following protests from Islam De

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's biggest Islamic organization, is of the opinion that making Indonesia a peaceful country with the world's largest population of Muslims

Jakarta – The government should annul discriminative and intolerant bylaws, not only those seen to be hampering economic growth, rights watchdog Setara Institute has stated.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – In another show of intolerance toward minority faiths in Indonesia, mass organizations have extorted churches in Bandung, West Java, in the process of attaining building permit

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The Mathla'ul Anwar Islamic organization has called on the government not to revoke sharia inspired bylaws that are in place in many regions across the country as it says

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Three former leaders of the disbanded Gafatar movement face life imprisonment after being arrested for blasphemy and treason in a case raising serious concerns about Indo

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Being gay in a religious neighborhood in Indonesia is certainly tough, but Hendro Yudistira faces even tougher odds.

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – A team of public attorneys from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute have spoken out against the arrest of three former members of the controversial Fajar Nusantara

Jakarta – The Setara Institute, a human rights watchdog, released a report on the religious tolerance of high school students in Jakarta and Bandung, West Java on Tuesday.

Haeril Halim/Margareth S.

Jakarta – Unidentified people destroyed an Ahmadiyah mosque in Kendal regency, Central Java, in the early hours of Monday.

Jakarta – Pressure from intolerant people and the sealing-off of Ahmadis' Annur mosque in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, by the local administration last year, have not discouraged the mosque's members

Representatives of Aceh Singkil Christian residents have filed a report with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), accusing their local government of discriminating against them in