4/18/22, 5:32 PM Inside Indonesia: The peoples and cultures of Indonesia

Blasphemy on the rise

Written by RAFIQA QURRATA A’YUN  Print 

Thousands of Muslims protested on 2 December 2016 over Ahok’s alleged blasphemy

Source/Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir

Rafiqa Qurrata A’yun

During the 2017 gubernatorial election in Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama
(https://theconversation.com/can-support-for-the-jailed-former-jakarta-governor-bring-
change-in-indonesias-blasphemy-law-77565) (or Ahok), the incumbent candidate, a Christian of
Chinese ancestry, was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in jail. This year, in
the lead up to Indonesia’s 2019 presidential election there was another high profile blasphemy
conviction, when Meliana, a Buddhist woman of Chinese heritage, was sentenced to eighteen
months’ jail for complaining about the volume of the mosque loudspeakers in her neighbourhood
in North Sumatra. In October 2018, Meliana’s appeal was rejected by judges of the North Sumatra
High Court. This case is indicative of the rising number of blasphemy prosecutions that are
occurring as religion becomes increasingly politicised in democratic Indonesia.

The complaint

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The case began in July 2016 when Meliana complained to the one of her neighbours that the
mosque’s speakers used for the adzan (call to prayer) were too loud. At first the village leader
treated Meliana’s complaint as an issue that was appropriate to be resolved through mediation.
Although some people said that Meliana had blasphemed, according to her lawyer, Ranto
Sibarani, the caretaker of the mosque had forgiven Meliana for this. However, a rumour spread in
her neighbourhood that Meliana wanted to ban adzan altogether. This rumour provoked public
anger, and in the following week vigilantes burned down numerous Buddhist temples
(http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/07/30/vihara-pagodas-burned-down-plundered-
in-n-sumatra.html). The eight rioters were arrested and convicted, receiving jail terms of one to
four months.

After investigating the riot, the local police

(http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/08/09/chinese-indonesian-at-center-of-riot-
under-stress-after-blasphemy-report.html) described Meliana as the provocateur and formally
accused her of blasphemy. However, in August 2016 the director of the Criminal Investigation
Agency of the Indonesian National Police (Bareskrim Polri) stated that Meliana’s request that the
volume of the mosque’s loudspeakers be reduced did not amount to blasphemy. As a
consequence, six months after Meliana complained about the noise from the mosque, the police
were yet to lay a charge for blasphemy.

Within the same period, a series of mass rallies in Jakarta were organised by a vigilante group, the
Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), along with Ahok’s political opponents to pressure the police to
declare Ahok a blasphemy suspect. This inspired the Alliance of the Students and Independent
Communities (Aliansi Mahasiswa dan Masyarakat Independent Bersatu) in North Sumatra to
request a fatwa from the Indonesian Council of Islamic Scholars (MUI) of Tanjungbalai region in
early January 2017, stating that Meliana has insulted Islam. The MUI is a quasi-state organisation
that is responsible for producing religious opinions which serve as the main reference when
police name blasphemy suspects. At this time, the MUI still did not issue a fatwa. However, the
North Sumatra branch of Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organisation, Muhammadiyah
(https://www.jawapos.com/nasional/hukum-kriminal/05/08/2016/ini-hasil-investigasi-
muhammadiyah-terkait-ricuh-tanjungbalai), did release a statement attributing Meliana with
responsibility for provoking the riot.

In mid-January 2017, the leader of the FPI Rizieq Shihab visited Medan, the capital of North
Sumatra, to drum up support for the Islamic movement inspired by the anti-Ahok rallies. A week
later, on 24 January 2017, the MUI of North Sumatra finally released a fatwa, accusing Meliana of
blasphemy. This fatwa became the basis for the police continuing their investigation and bringing
the case to court. It also became the main evidence used by the judge in finding Meliana guilt of
blasphemy.

Guidance but no regulation

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In many places in Indonesia, recitations from the Qur’an are played on mosque loudspeakers
before and after the five daily calls to prayer. Although this is a long-established practice, it is not
unheard of for disputes to arise about volume. However, this is the first time such as dispute has
resulted in the criminal prosecution of the complainant. There was a civil case related to a similar
issue recorded in 2013 in Aceh (https://www.merdeka.com/peristiwa/gugat-pengeras-suara-
masjid-sayed-hasan-nyaris-diamuk-massa.html), but the charge was eventually revoked because
of pressure from locals.

The government has tried to prevent such disputes through instructions issued by the director
general for Islamic community guidance at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The idea of limiting
the use of loud speakers has also been suggested by leading Islamic figures, including the late
Abdurrahman Wahid (https://www.nu.or.id/post/read/94797/pandangan-gus-dur-soal-
pengeras-suara-di-masjid) – a former Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leader who was also known as
moderate Islamic thinker. Vice President Jusuf Kalla – an NU advisory board member – has also
recommended moderating the volume of adzan. Yet this suggestion is hardly ever taken up by
mosques, even those affiliated with NU, and many still use high volume loudspeakers.

An anti-Ahok protestor on 2 December 2016

Source/Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir

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A new type of blasphemy

Meliana’s conviction has added to a growing number of blasphemy cases. More than 130 people
have been convicted of blasphemy since the beginning of the democratic era in 1998, a ten-fold
increase from the previous authoritarian period. Indonesia’s blasphemy law (article 156a of the
Criminal Code) defines blasphemy as an act which ‘has the character of being at enmity with,
abusing or staining a religion adhered to in Indonesia’, when this is done with ‘the intention to
prevent a person adhering to any religion based on belief in the almighty God.’ Notably, although
the definition theoretically includes an act blaspheming one of the official religions in Indonesian
other than Islam –Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism – in most
of the recorded cases people have been convicted of blaspheming Islam.

Prior to Meliana’s conviction, three main kinds of actions had led to blasphemy prosecutions.
First, cases related to different interpretations of religion, when a member of a religious minority
promotes an idea that the majority considers deviant. Second, cases where the defendant has

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insulted a part of a religion or a religious symbol, as Ahok was found to have done when he
quoted a Qur’anic verse and insinuated that the verse has been used by his political opponents to
deceive voters. The third case is related to the proselytisation.

Meliana’s case can be understood as a new kind of blasphemous act. Since blasphemy is not
comprehensively defined, the decision may become a new precedent for interpreting other
complaints about noisy mosque loudspeakers as blasphemy. However, it should be kept in mind
that such legal problems would be unlikely to emerge separately from the politicisation of
religion, as part of a strategy to mobilise conservative Muslims in the contests over power.

The future of blasphemy

In 2009, 2012, and 2017 rights activist and representatives of the Ahmadiyya community
petitioned the Constitutional Court to repeal Law No.1/PNPS/1965 as the basis of the current
blasphemy law, but the petitions were rejected. On the contrary, more recently, a provision which
extends the criminal prohibition on blasphemy has been included in the mass organisation law
passed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), which could allow for the criminalisation of members
of an organisation that indirectly engages in blasphemy. The latest draft of the Criminal Code
amendment also expands the blasphemy offence.

In the lead up to the 2019 presidential election, no political campaigns advocate revoking the law.
Indeed, it would seem that both pairs of candidates, Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amien and Prabowo Subianto-
Sandiaga Uno, support the use of the blasphemy law because it is endorsed by conservative
Muslims. Jokowi’s decision to choose (http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/08/09/who-
is-maruf-amin-jokowis-running-mate.html?
src=mostviewed&pg=academia/2018/07/11/between-your-legs-or-between-your-ears.html)
Ma’ruf Amin – the MUI’s chairman who released the fatwa that supported Ahok’s blasphemy case
– as his running mate indicates that he considers garnering the support of conservative Muslims
to be more important than minority rights. In the case of Prabowo and Sandiaga, their support
for the blasphemy law is also unsurprising given the support they receive from the so-called ‘212
Alumni’, the collection of hardline Islamic groups that participated in the protest against Ahok on
2 December 2016.

The stance of the candidates who are running in the 2019 presidential election may well indicate
that Indonesia’s blasphemy law is likely to continue to be regularly used in future. Given that the
use of the blasphemy law indirectly allows politicians to mobilise support from conservative
Muslims, more are likely to be charged with the offence in future, in line with escalating identity
politics. As a result, blasphemy convictions and discrimination against minority groups are also
likely to increase.

Rafiqa Qurrata A’yun (rafiqa.qa@ui.ac.id) is a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of
Indonesia.

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Inside Indonesia 134: Oct-Dec 2018 (/edition-134-oct-dec-2018)

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