Houses of Worship Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Muslims comprise 87.2 percent of Indonesia’s 267 million citizens, while Protestant Christians comprise 7 percent, Roman Catholics 2.9 percent, and Hindus 1.7 percent; 0.9 percent identify as another minority religion such as Buddhism or Confucianism. In 2020, the World Bank upgraded Indonesia’s economic ranking from lower- to upper-middle income country. In light of this diversity, Indonesia has a long tradition of religious pluralism. Article 29 of its constitution “guarantees the independence of each resident to embrace religion and worship according to their respective religions and beliefs.” The government has long promoted an ideology known as Pancasila, which comprises five principles: monotheism (broadly defined as any religion with a supreme deity, holy figure, scripture, and established rituals), civilized humanity, national unity, deliberative democracy, and social justice. Efforts in summer 2020 to pass legislation to reform Pancasila failed. These failed reforms included strengthening the government’s responsibility to promote the ideology in school and its ability to regulate Pancasila through the Agency for Pancasila Ideology Education. The government officially recognizes only six religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism, based on a 1952 Ministry of Religious Affairs definition of religion that limits it to monotheistic traditions. Furthermore, the government views Sunnism as the only officially accepted variant of Islam. Violations of religious freedom tend to impact Ahmadiyya and Shi’a Muslims disproportionately as well as Christians, believers outside the six officially recognized faiths, nonbelievers, atheists, and certain indigenous religious communities. The government also requires all citizens to list their religious affiliation on their identification cards—a practice that has historically forced nonbelievers and members of unrecognized religious minorities to misrepresent their faith or leave the field blank. This omission can impact access to licenses and permits, education, and government jobs. The 2006 Joint Regulation on houses of worship remains an ongoing and systemic barrier to the religious freedom of minority communities, requiring at least 90 congregation members and approval from 60 local households of other religions. In March, a group of petitioners referred to as the “People’s Lawsuit Presidium” requested that the Supreme Court review the regulation, but the request made no subsequent progress. In March and April, two mosques belonging to the Indonesian Ahmadiyya Congregation (JAI) were sealed from use. In Karimun, the local Catholic community faced hardline Muslim resistance to efforts to renovate St. Joseph Catholic Church. The community had received a permit in October 2019, but protests spurred the local authorities to delay its approval. Construction finally began in April 2020, but only after President Jokowi intervened and the lawsuit that had prevented it was thrown out in court. Shari’a Law in Aceh Aceh is the only province in Indonesia with the legal authority to enact Shari’a law. Religious police there enforce a strict interpretation of Shari’a that includes and administers corporal punishment. In December 2019, Aceh introduced its first all-female flogging squad, which it expanded in early 2020. This development was the end result of years of pushing by authorities to assemble such squads to punish women convicted in the Shari’a courts. Behavior is heavily regulated within this framework; for example, couples are in danger of flogging if they sit too close, women are prevented from straddling motorbikes and forced to wear hijabs, and unmarried sexual activity is severely punished. During the pandemic, officials modified but continued to enforce such corporal punishment. Minority Faith Communities Members of minority Muslim sects—such as the Milah Abraham faith community (also known as Gafatar), Shi’a Muslims, and Ahmadiyya Muslims—remained especially vulnerable in 2020. MUI has long issued fatwas (religious edicts) declaring these groups “deviant” and heretical to Islam; in 2005, MUI issued a fatwa declaring Ahmadiyya Muslims as apostates, and in 2008 the government banned them from proselytizing, a step that former Indonesia President Abdurrahman Wahid publicly condemned. In January 2020, Ade Munawaroh Yasin, the regent of Bogor, West Java, issued a letter with the support of local Islamists stating that Ahmadiyya Islam was illegal in Bogor. Shi’a Muslims who had been displaced from Madura Island in 2012 by anti-Shi’a violence remained unable to return home. In November, some members of that community publicly converted to Sunni Islam to return to their homes. In a positive sign, newly appointed Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas stated in December his intention to uphold the rights of both Shi’a and Ahmadiyya Muslims. Key U.S. Policy The U.S. and Indonesian governments have cooperated closely on counterterrorism and maritime security issues, including with regard to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. The United States was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Indonesia in 1949, following its independence from the Netherlands. In October, Indonesia hosted then U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo to discuss continued cooperation. The United States also continues to support Indonesian efforts to build regional multilateral cooperation through organizations such as ASEAN. Throughout 2020, the USAID-funded Harmoni program continued to support the Ministry of Social Affairs and local organizations. Harmoni funding was applied to strengthen Inter-Religious Harmony Forums; to counter extremist narratives through community, university, and school-based campaigns; and to rehabilitate women and children returning from conflict zones in the Middle East and Philippines. U S C I R F – R E C O M M E N D E D F O R S P E C I A L W AT C H L I S T 71 INDONESIA Background