Indonesia Ruling Lifts Blasphemy Prosecution Threat to Religious Minorities, Except Ahmadiyahs, Shias

But it won’t help Ahmadiyah and Shia communities, who can still expect to be victims of routine bureaucratic discrimination related to national ID card issuance.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | AU Desk
Source/Credit: Human Rights Watch
By Andreas Harsono | November 17, 2017

Constitutional Court Recognizes ‘Native Faith’ ID Card Category

Indonesia’s beleaguered religious minority groups got some rare good news today.

The Constitutional Court ruled that the Population Administration Law’s prohibition on adherents of native faiths from listing their religion on official identification cards is unconstitutional.

The ruling will help protect adherents of more than 240 such religions from prosecution under Indonesia’s dangerously ambiguous blasphemy law. Prior to the court’s ruling, members of religious minorities faced an impossible choice: leave blank the ID card’s religion column and possibly be accused of being an atheist – which is punishable under the blasphemy law – or select one of Indonesia’s six officially protected religions and be accused of falsifying their identity. The 1965 blasphemy law only protects Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

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Complements: The Times of Ahmad

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