RELIGIOUS FREEDOM in INDONESIA: Between Upholding Constitutional Provisions and Complying with Social Considerations

Human rights, including freedom of religion, are generally accepted and granted by all governments regardless of their ideology, political, economic, and social conditions. In a Muslim majority country such as Indonesia, ideally freedom of religion is considered to mean that the government allows religious practices of religious minorities or other sects besides the state religion, and does not persecute believers in other faiths. This paper discusses Indonesia's constitutional provisions concerning legal rights of citizens on freedom of religion, whether the government upholds the constitution as a concrete way to deal with human rights protection or it complies with some groups' demand to tighten restrictions on “the Western concept of” religious liberty. This paper concludes that even though there are many provisions in the Indonesia's constitution and in its legal system which is supportive of religious freedom, some governmental provisions were enacted based on social considerations, rather than to strengthen constitutional provisions

Politik Hukum dan Positivisasi Hukum Islam di Indonesia [Studi Tentang Produk Hukum Islam dalam Arah Kebijakan Hukum Negara]

Legal policies that do not consider aspirations of the people have led to inconsistencies in the application of laws because of differences between the will of the people and the legal provisions in the form of legislation. This study specifically examines states legal policies in terms of the application of Islamic law in Indonesia, which is reflected in the Law No. 1/1974 on Marriage and the Law. No 7/1989 on Religious Courts (and its amendment the Law No. 3/2006). The political situation that characterizes the formation of the Marriage Law and the Law on Religious Court very clearly showed the direction and tendency of the states policies towards national laws. It can be seen from the political aspects of the legal establishment, the political aspect of the content of the laws (principle and rule of laws), and political aspects of law enforcement. All three of these aspects have made Islamic laws practiced by Indonesian Muslim society as the living laws have legal problems with formal legal rules defined by the state. The problems of laws can be seen in the Marriage Act article 2 paragraph (1), article 7 paragraph (1), article 31 paragraph (3) and article 34 paragraph (1) and (2), and articles 42 and 43 paragraph (1). While the legal provisions in the Law on Religious Court that could lead to a legal problem is Article 50 of Law No. 7/1989 and Article 50 paragraph (1) and (2) of Law No. 3/2006 (amendment of the same article of the Law no. 7/1989