INDONESIA
Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, is not an Islamic State. Its constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship, but some restrictions are in place. The official state ideology or philosophy is called “Pancasila” (five principles). The preamble to the constitution defines it as “a belief in the One and Only God, just and civilised humanity, the unity of Indonesia, and democratic life led by the wisdom of thoughts in deliberation amongst representatives of the people, and achieving social justice for all the people of Indonesia.”[1] The constitution does not uphold any one religion, but discriminates in favour of belief in a deity and protects the rights of the followers of the six officially recognised religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The rights of believers of other religions, including local traditional beliefs, and those of agnostics and atheists, are not equally protected.
Indonesia does not enforce Shari‘a (Islamic law) at a national level, but it has been estimated that at least 78 Shari‘a-inspired regulations have been introduced locally, spread across 52 of Indonesia’s 470 districts and municipalities.[2] Various sources contend that the real figure is even higher, and that there are at least 151 local Shari‘a by-laws in Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra, and West Nusa Tenggara.[3]
According to Article 28E (1) of the constitution, “Every person shall be free to choose and to practise the religion of his/her choice.” Article 28E (2) emphasises that “every person shall have the right to the freedom to believe his/her faith (kepercayaan), and to express his/her views and thoughts, in accordance with his/her conscience.” Article 29 (2) further reiterates: “The State guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief.”
In 1965, then President Sukarno issued Presidential Decree No. 1/PNPS/1965 on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religions, which is informally known as the “blasphemy law”. Article 1 of this decree, which was subsequently implemented by Sukarno’s successor, President Suharto (in power from 1967 to 1998), prohibits interpretations and activities that “are in deviation of the basic teachings of the religion”[4] and requires the president to dissolve any organisation practising “deviant” teachings.[5]
As part of its policy to crack down on religious deviance, the Coordinating Body to Monitor Indigenous Beliefs (Bakor Pakem),[6] a department in the Indonesia Attorney General’s Office,[7] released a mobile phone application in late 2018. Called Smart Pakem, it allows users to report “deviant” religious practices to the authorities,[8] among which Shi‘a, Gatafar and Ahmadiyya Islam are specifically named.[9]
In 1969, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a Joint Ministerial Decree detailing the procedures required to authorise the construction of places of worship. In 2004, the then President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, instructed the Minister of Religious Affairs to review the 1969 decree; this resulted in a joint ministerial decree (No. 8 and 9/2006) entitled “Guide for Regional Heads and Deputy Heads in Managing Religious Harmony”.[10]
According to its provisions, the construction of places of worship needs the support of residents, the names with proof of identity of at least 90 members of the new house of worship, approved by local authorities, together with letters of support from at least 60 members of the local community belonging to a different faith, and endorsed by the village head. Critics observe that the decree is a recipe for exacerbating interfaith tensions, as it is hard to imagine a minority Christian community getting the endorsement of 60 local Muslims to build a church.
In addition, the request must obtain a written recommendation from the district office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the local district or city's Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB).[11] Once all the documentation is collected, the application goes to the local mayor who has 90 days to decide whether or not to accept it.[12]
The regulation also requires local authorities to establish a Religious Harmony Forum, composed of local religious leaders in proportion to the size of their respective communities. Effectively, this means that the body will be dominated by either Muslims or Christians depending on their numbers in each region.[13]
Laws for religious groups have also been in place for several years. In June 2008, the government announced a Joint Decree of the Minister of Religious Affairs, the Attorney General, and the Minister of Home Affairs regarding “Admonition and Instruction to the Disciples, Members and/or Members of the Organising Board of the Jemaat Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI) and the Members of the Public”.[14]
The decree stopped short of an outright ban, but it orders all Ahmadiyyas “to discontinue the promulgation of interpretations and activities that are deviant from the principle (sic) teachings of Islam, that is the promulgation of beliefs that recognise a prophet with all the teachings who come after the Prophet Mohammad.”[15]
In August 2008, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence, and the Director General for National Unity and Political Affairs of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a Joint Circular regarding the “Implementation Guideline of the Joint Decree”. This specifically stated that the Joint Decree applies only to Ahmadiyyas who “claim themselves to be Muslims”, and that “those who do not claim themselves as Muslims are exempted from the target of this admonition and order.”[16]
Violations of the Joint Decree are deemed a criminal offence, and an abuse of religion and religious defamation as set out in Article 1 (prohibiting “deviant” interpretations of religion and “deviant” teachings), and Article 3 of Presidential Decree No. 1/PNPS/1965 on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religions, and Article 156 (a) of Indonesia’s Criminal Code. The maximum punishment is five years imprisonment.
In addition to the blasphemy law, the regulations on the construction of places of worship, and the anti-Ahmadiyya regulations, hundreds of local bylaws and regional laws and regulations have been promulgated restricting religious practice.
In recent years, the Pew Forum has consistently ranked Indonesia among the countries with the highest levels of government-imposed restrictions on religion, particularly within the world’s 25 most populous nations..[17] Yet in 2023, according to the Religious Harmony Index, 76.02 percent of Indonesians saw themselves as tolerant of other people’s religions. [18] In 2024, Indonesia’s Religious Harmony Index (KUB Index) reached a new high of 76.47, continuing a positive trend in public perceptions of interfaith tolerance. Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Saiful Rahmat Basuki credited the rise to the Ministry’s efforts to promote and internalize initiatives strengthening moderate religious perspectives and practices, including the launch of a Joint Secretariat (Sekber) and a monitoring application to oversee policy implementation.[19] In 2025, however, the Bishops’ Conference felt obliged to write to the government urging it to act firmly against intolerance, following a series of attacks on churches.[20]
Dr Musdah Mulia, Chairperson of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, said that there were at least 147 “discriminative laws and public policies regarding religion” and believed that “as long as those laws are permitted to prevail” there would always be “a strong potential for violence in society”. He added that there needed to be reforms and new laws that were “more accommodative towards the principles of human rights, the principles of democracy, tolerance and pluralism”.[21] Some of these local regulations simply enforce national legislation, but others introduce new restrictions.
In July 2023, the Supreme Court issued a circular letter prohibiting judges from granting and registering marriages between people from different religions and beliefs. Most interfaith couples circumvent this by one of them accepting the marriage rituals of their partner’s faith and then resuming the practice or their own faith after the wedding.[22]
In December 2022, Indonesia adopted a new Criminal Code[23] to replace the one approved upon independence, which was based on Dutch law.[24] The two are similar concerning offences related to religion with both versions punishing blasphemy, heresy and religious defamation. Specifically, Article 156 imposes up to four years in prison on anyone “who publicly gives expression to feelings of hostility, hatred or contempt against one or more groups of the population of Indonesia”, where groups are defined by “race, country of origin, religion, origin, descent, nationality or constitutional condition”. Article 156a imposes up to five years in prison for “abusing or staining a religion, adhered to in Indonesia”.
The new Criminal Code has been criticised because it designates sex outside marriage as a criminal offense, although a person can only be prosecuted following a complaint from their husband, wife, children or parents. Still, this affects many Indonesian couples without an official marriage certificate. These include indigenous people and Muslims from rural areas who marry using Islamic ceremonies called “kawin siri”.[25] Furthermore, critics of the new law fear that women who are victims of rape may be accused of committing adultery if they speak out.[26]
In 2023 and 2024, civil society organisations raised concerns about Article 302 of Indonesia’s new Criminal Code (Law No. 1/2023), which is set to come into force on 2 January 2026. The provision criminalises public incitement to apostasy, which is defined as ceasing to embrace one of Indonesia’s approved religions. It prescribes penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment — or up to four years in cases involving coercion or threats. Its vague and ambiguous wording has been widely criticised for opening the door to the repression of unrecognised religious beliefs and for restricting pluralistic expression.[27] Legal experts warn that Article 302 — alongside the broader Chapter VII (Articles 300–305) on religious offences — may function as a set of overly elastic provisions, vulnerable to arbitrary interpretation and enforcement. This raises serious concerns that the law could be misused by both State and non-State actors to target minority religious groups, dissenting individuals, or those engaged in interfaith dialogue.[28]
Incidents and developments
Indonesia’s tradition of pluralism and reputation for religious tolerance has become increasingly threatened in recent years. In its 2023 annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) stated that blasphemy allegations and convictions “remain persistent religious freedom violations throughout Indonesia”.[29] The agency recommended that the U.S. Department of State place Indonesia on its Special Watch List (SWL) for “engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom”.[30]
In January 2023, in Banda Aceh, the capital of Achel, which is the only Shari‘a-regulated province in Indonesia, a woman who met with a man who was not her husband was publicly flogged 22 times by a female flogger. While floggings in Aceh are not new, the introduction of female floggers, who have been added to the Shari‘a police to maintain strict moral conduct, is an innovation. A female flogger who works for the Shari‘a police said she considered her job a “duty to God”.[31]
On 15 March 2023, Lina Mukherjee, an Indonesian social media personality, was reported to police for blasphemy after saying an Islamic prayer while eating pork in Bali. She was tried in court in September 2023 and was given a two-year jail sentence and fined $16,000, about four times the average annual wage in Indonesia. Court documents reported that Ms. Mukherjee was found guilty of “spreading information aimed at inciting hatred against religious individuals and specific groups”.[32]
In 2023, Aceh province issued new and tightened rules forbidding unrelated men and women from sitting together in public places or vehicles. The new regulations aimed to reduce what government officials termed “sinful behaviour”. As an extra measure, the Mayor of Banda Aceh, the capital city, banned women from public places altogether after 11pm.[33] In April 2024, members of two couples were each given 20 blows of a cane for allegedly having sexual relations outside marriage.[34]
Also in Aceh, six men were caught gambling online and were publicly flogged. Gambling, the consumption of alcohol, and meeting with individuals of the opposite gender to whom you are not related is punishable by flogging. The mayor said he would deploy Shari‘a police to get people to comply with the new rules.[35] More recently, in February 2025 two men were seized by locals who suspected them of having homosexual relations. The men were later publicly flogged between 77-80 times. As same-sex couples cannot marry in Indonesia, the new criminal code, in prohibiting sex outside marriage, effectively makes all same-sex activity illegal.[36]
Blasphemy laws and restrictions on free speech in Indonesia continue to discriminate in favour of Islam against other religious traditions including Christianity. Apollinaris Darmawan, a 74-year-old convert from Islam to Catholicism, was arrested under the blasphemy law for writing a book criticising Islamic law and Muslim leaders.[37] He was finally released in July 2025 after serving more than four years in prison.[38]
Yet there remain inconsistencies in the application of the law. In February 2023, Wawan Kurniawan leapt over a fence to disrupt the worship service of the Tabernacle of David Christian Church in Lampung Province. The intruder threatened worshippers with harsh words and demanded that the service stop. Wawan was initially charged with violating the blasphemy laws which are punishable by five-year imprisonment and fines. However, the charge was later reduced to one of intrusion and he was fined $30.[39]
In September 2024, Pope Francis began his four-nation tour of Southeast Asia with a visit to Indonesia. The Pope met with the outgoing President, Joko Widodo, and with Catholic priests and nuns. During his meeting with the president, the Pope affirmed the Catholic Church’s commitment to interreligious dialogue which he said was “indispensable for meeting common challenges, including that of countering extremism and intolerance”. The Pope urged the country to live up to its promise of “harmony in diversity”.[40]
In October 2024, Rudi Simamora, a Christian florist in North Sumatra Province, was arrested for comments he made on social media about Islam. Mr. Simamora allegedly said that the messages of Prophet Muhammad were of “human and not divine origin”. In September, another Christian, Muchtar Nababan, was arrested because he allegedly said that Christians were “protected from Muslims’ black magic”.[41]
Other religious communities, particularly Shi‘as and Ahmadiyyas, also face persistent discrimination and pressure. In December 2024, under pressure from Islamic hardliners, the government of West Java banned the annual gathering of Ahmadiyya Muslims in Kuningan regency. The ban left 6,000 Ahmadiyyas stranded in a railway station. Henrek Lokra, Executive Secretary for Justice and Peace of the Indonesian Churches Union, condemned the ban and said that religious gatherings were “an expression of freedom of religion guaranteed by the law”.[42]
In its 2024 report, the Setara Institute, an Indonesian NGO focussing on democracy, reported a decline in religious freedom in Indonesia, as President Joko Widodo’s term ended and Prabowo Subianto took office. It recorded 260 incidents and 402 violations of religious freedom — up from 217 and 329 respectively in 2023. State actors were responsible for 159 violations of religious freedom, non-state actors for 243. The increase was linked to political tensions around the 2024 elections. Key issues included rising intolerance, a spike in blasphemy cases (42, up from 15), and ongoing restrictions on places of worship. Structural problems remain unresolved under the new government.[43]
Between March and July 2024, several incidents in Banten Province highlighted growing intolerance toward Christian worship. On 17 March 2024, Muslim residents in Saga Bunar in Banten Province protested against a house church service held in a private residence. After the service, a crowd gathered and pressured Pastor Kinerinda to sign a statement pledging not to hold further worship in her home — “without any coercion”, a formula often used to prevent legal recourse. Police dispersed the protest and referred the case to local authorities. A representative from the Setara Institute noted that Indonesia’s 2006 Joint Ministerial Decree permits private home worship, with permits required only for purpose-built religious buildings.[44]
On 21 July 2024, a video emerged showing a mob — mostly men in traditional Muslim attire — disrupting a Christian service in a rented house in Teluk Naga, Banten Province, in March. Claiming the area was predominantly Muslim, the group mocked the congregation and insisted worship could only occur in officially recognised churches. Local officials later expressed regret and offered the Thessalonica Church a temporary venue. The incident reflects ongoing misuse of the 2006 Joint Ministerial Decree, which requires permits only for permanent worship buildings, not for private or rented spaces.[45]
In October 2024, the incoming government of President Prabowo Subianto announced that it would begin a new wave of transmigration to the predominantly Christian province of West Papua. Since the 1970s successive governments have relocated mainly Muslim sectors of the population from crowded islands such as Java to the eastern part of the country, resulting in the mass displacement of Christians by some 20 million migrants and their descendants.
On 11 November 2024, the Papuan Council of Churches appealed to the President to cancel the transmigration plan, which they said was an attempt to destroy Papuan culture.
Prospects for freedom of religion
Indonesia’s prospects for religious freedom remain highly fragile. Despite a constitutional framework that guarantees freedom of religion or belief, structural discrimination, rising social intolerance, and the continued use of repressive laws — particularly blasphemy provisions — signal a deteriorating trend. The Jokowi administration ended with stagnation, and the early phase of President Prabowo Subianto’s term has yet to show a clear commitment to reform. In 2024, reported violations rose to 402 individual acts (up from 329 in 2023), including a sharp increase in blasphemy prosecutions. Incidents targeting Christian house churches in Banten and the banning of Ahmadiyya gatherings in West Java further highlight the vulnerability of minorities. Meanwhile, the impending enforcement of Article 302 of the new Criminal Code — criminalising apostasy incitement — raises serious concerns due to its vague formulation. Without legal reform and stronger accountability at all levels of government, Indonesia risks eroding its pluralistic foundations. The country should remain under close observation.
Sources
Indonesia