Photo: Communion of Churches in Indonesia
“One – two – threeee… One – two – threeee…,” I heard that refrain countless times last week whilst visiting Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of a delegation representing Denmark at the fourth interreligious dialogue between Denmark and Indonesia. Over the course of five days, we met with Indonesian politicians, religious leaders and civil society organisations. Each meeting invariably concluded with the obligatory group photo. To most Danes this might seem somewhat formal and slightly awkward, but in Indonesia it is both customary and unavoidable: As Indonesia’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arrmanatha Nasir, smilingly remarked during a meeting at his office: “If a group photo is not taken, the meeting never took place!”
As the days went by, our delegation grew accustomed to the many photo sessions. Alongside me were representatives from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Embassy in Indonesia, as well as members of Danish civil society and academia. As mentioned, we were participating in the fourth interreligious dialogue between Denmark and Indonesia – an important meeting and a central element of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
One of the most striking impressions, I bring home from Indonesia, is the extraordinary hospitality we encountered everywhere. One place where this was particularly evident was at the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (CCI), where the entire delegation was welcomed with batik scarves ceremoniously placed around our necks. From 2019 to 2023, CCI and CKU collaborated on freedom of religion or belief, supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This partnership formed part of the foundation for CKU’s fund concerning freedom of religion or belief and has been highly significant for CKU’s learning and ongoing work in this field. Consequently, the meeting with CCI was one I had especially looked forward to.
Therefore, it made a deep impression on me to hear about the work that CCI has undertaken since the project partnership with CKU concluded in 2023. Among other achievements, a coalition of organisations and stakeholders working on freedom of religion or belief, initially established in collaboration with CKU, has grown from 70 to 150 organisations. Today, it is highly active in advocacy on behalf of Indonesia’s many religious minorities. In addition, a task force has been established to provide support in cases of violations of freedom of religion or belief, and the website created jointly with CKU, designed to map current violations across Indonesia, is continuously maintained.
Most recently, the coalition has assisted NORFORB | FORB Learning Platform by translating the Local Changemakers Course | FORB Learning Platform into Bahasa Indonesian, and this autumn, they plan to implement the material themselves in several local communities. It was, as noted, profoundly encouraging to witness how the small seed planted in 2019 has grown into not merely a plant, but a flourishing tree with many branches.
Representatives from several of Indonesia’s religious minority groups also participated in the meeting. Many spoke of ongoing challenges, despite substantial government investment in promoting interreligious coexistence in the country. For instance, in parts of Sumatra, particularly in Aceh province, sharia law has been introduced, not only for Muslims but also for non-Muslims. Amongst other things, this has resulted in compulsory head coverings for women and a ban on constructing churches, temples and generally non-Muslim places of worship. At the same time, several of the existing non-Muslim congregations in the province have been subjected to outright attacks. In other parts of Indonesia, where Christians form the majority, Muslims can likewise face difficulties in obtaining permission to build mosques.
This is precisely why the growth and activity of the coalition for freedom of religion or belief is so important and encouraging. It ensures that support is available to those who face discrimination or attacks, regardless of their faith or religious affiliation. When a single minority group stands alone, it is more vulnerable, but when several groups unite and advocate for one another’s rights, they are far stronger in confronting those who oppose to their freedom; whether to believe, to believe differently, or not to believe at all.
Indonesia has made significant progress in advancing freedom of religion or belief. As the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country (with over 87 percent points of the population identifying as Muslim), Indonesia is in many aspects a model when it comes to religious coexistence or coexistence with purpose, as it is sometimes termed locally: not merely existing alongside one another, but existing with one another. There are a strong tradition and a clear desire to bind Indonesia’s diverse cultures and religions together within a shared national community. Work on freedom of religion or belief is therefore essential to addressing the inevitable challenges relating to religious identity, interfaith marriages, the right to build places of worship etc. ensuring that “dialogue does not end with the conversation itself;” as Ambassador, Dr Darmansyah Djumala, put it at the official interreligious dialogue on Monday. Therefore, it is my hope that Denmark will continue to support this important work in its future cooperation with Indonesia.
Returning to the many carefully staged group photos taken during the visit: I would venture to suggest that they represent something genuine and meaningful: namely, that it is indeed possible to find a sense of unity in diversity, and that it is worth preserving. Yet for that unity to be continuously sustainable and represented in more than a nice group-photo, it may be even more important that civil society actors and alliances look beyond the images, bring forward the nuances, and dare to articulate and address the challenges that inevitably arise when we live together across differences of faith and belief.
The Danish delegation included:
- Steen Frimodt Nielsen, Denmark’s Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN
- Per Brixen, Deputy Head of Mission at the Danish Embassy in Jakarta
- Marcus Taulborg, Senior Executive Officer in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Unit for Freedom of Religion or Belief
- Dr Naveed Baig, Researcher at the University of Oslo and Imam at the Danish Islamic Centre
- Sigrid la Cour Sonne, Church of Denmark and Interreligious Dialogue
- Margrethe Vestergaard, The House of Peace in Aarhus
- Daniel Nygaard Madsen, International Director at CKU
