Ref: Already intolerance going on, so just wait and see for the final result 
which will come sooner or later.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/intolerance-could-make-indonesia-fail-group-warns/573472

Intolerance Could Make Indonesia Fail, Group Warns
Olivia Gaol | February 22, 2013

 Members of an Islamic hard-line organization protest against a Christian 
church who said their right to worship has been infringed. (SP Photo/Mikael 
Niman) 


Indonesia could turn into the next Yugoslavia if it does not stop the rising 
tide of intolerance in the country, a tolerance group warned on Friday. 

“Yugoslavia was one of the countries that formed the Non-Aligned Movement and 
it no longer exists because it failed to manage its diversity. Is that what you 
want for Indonesia?” asked Alissa Wahid from the Committee for Interfaith 
Tolerance Indonesia (Cinta Indonesia) during the group’s road show in Jakarta 
on Friday. 

The year 2012 was a turbulent time for minority rights in Indonesia. Incidents 
of violence, sometimes resulting in death, were frequent and countless 
communities are still being denied the opportunity to practice their religion, 
despite laws guaranteeing their inherent rights. 

An annual report by Human Rights Watch released recently suggested that very 
little effort was being made to protect religious minorities’ rights in 
Indonesia. 

The watchdog organization said that radical decentralization as well as 
discriminatory and ineffective legal infrastructure were major obstacles to 
achieving equality. 

Alissa said that Indonesia faced a big challenge in dealing with its diversity. 

“Indonesia can acknowledge its diversity but it still can’t live in it yet,” 
she said. 

“There are many incidents of intolerance in the name of God incited by certain 
groups. We initially lived in Indonesia based on an agreement. There is no such 
thing as real Indonesian,” she added, in reference to the country’s national 
slogan of “Unity in Diversity.” 

Figures from the Setara Institute, an Indonesian human rights watchdog, show 
that cases of religious intolerance have been becoming more frequent over the 
past five years. 

The group recorded 264 incidents of intolerance last year, almost double the 
135 cases in 2007. 

Favor Bancin, a religious figure who attended Friday’s discussion, corroborated 
Alissa’s sentiments. 

“Indonesia does not consist of only six religions, but there are many other 
faiths. Religious followers should not be easily steered. Religious freedom is 
not governed by a certain organization but by the government. We should jointly 
supervise the country,” he said. 

He added that religious followers should understand that followers of other 
religions were also Indonesians. 

Cinta Indonesia is a youth community organization that focuses on efforts to 
empower and build the capacity of young people with respect to tolerance issues 
and interfaith dialogue. 

The committee was established by the Study of US Institute (SUSI) Religious 
Pluralism Alumni 2012. 

The members consist of selected individuals who were sent to the United States 
to study religious pluralism. 

Cinta Indonesia has held a series of events in several Indonesian cities, 
including Malang in East Java, Palembang in South Sumatra, Manado in North 
Sulawesi, and Jakarta. 

Despite the many conflicts, Alissa said she was quite optimistic about 
Indonesia’s future especially because there were still many young people who 
cared about resolving the intolerance issue.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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