Eva Kusuma Sundari: Defending pluralism

Eva Kusuma Sundari was once chased by members of an Islamic group when defending the constitutional rights of a church congregation.

The incident, which took place in front of the Indonesian Christian Church in Taman Yasmin (GKI Yasmin), Bogor, West Java, earlier this year, did not scare Eva, but has on the contrary encouraged her to speak out even louder on the rights of minorities and has prepared her to face any risks in defending her belief in constitutional rights.

“In the GKI Yasmin case, we are not only fighting for the constitutional rights of the church’s congregation but, simultaneously, showing up the misperceptions of certain Muslim groups about Islam and the amended 1945 Constitution which guarantees religious freedom and guarantees citizens’ rights to adhere to their faith no matter whether it’s heretical or not,” she told The Jakarta Post recently.

The member of the House of Representatives said the GKI Yasmin case had challenged her to uphold religious freedoms and to defend minorities’ constitutional rights. She is disappointed in the sections of society and the House of Representatives who have trampled on minorities’ rights.

She believes the case has arisen due to the powerless condition of the government, mainly the President and the police, who have not enforced the law when minorities’ rights were trampled.

“Aside from the police’s inaction, the President has indirectly allowed the religious affairs minister and the home minister to freely interpret the Constitution,” the politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said.

Eva accused the two ministers of following their own agenda in taking the militants’ side, trying to dissolve the Ahmadiyah Islamic minority group and defending sharia-inspired bylaws.

According to her, the GKI Yasmin congregation has a right to build their house of worship and to perform their Sunday services.

The congregation obtained a building permit from the municipal administration but it was later revoked due to pressure from hardliner groups. The Supreme Court declared that the cancellation of the church’s building permit was illegal. So far, the municipal administration has still refused to obey the court’s decision.

Eva was previously known as an activist who campaigned on gender equity, religious harmony and peace in the country. 

Her past experiences as a consultant and manager for a gender and women participation-related program in the Asia Foundation from 2000 to 2005, as well as other organizations, including the Forum for Budget Transparency and the ASEAN parliament caucus, prompted the PDI-P to appoint her to the law commission and to represent the PDI-P faction in deliberating bills on handling social conflicts, human trafficking and anticorruption.

“I am proud of the PDI-P which has been consistent in implementing the Pancasila state ideology, The 1945 Constitution, the unity of the Indonesian state and diversity within that unity. I grew up and was educated in a big family loving Pancasila and respecting pluralism,” she said. 

She said she had often faced resistance and cynicism not only from the Muslim community but also from her own party when fighting for minorities’ rights.

Eva admitted that party leaders and senior politicians had criticized her several times for her advocacy on behalf of the Ahmadiyah sect.

“They appear cynical when I fight for the rights of Ahmadiyah followers or when I condemn the attacks on the group and their property in Lombok, Kuningan, Bogor, Ciamis and Parung.”

“They [also] remained silent and did nothing when we condemned the deadly assault on a HKBP church member in Ciketing, East Bekasi,” she said.

Eva said she had faced a serious dilemma because she had been accused of being anti-Islam when she fought for the rights of minorities. She felt that she would be betraying her own conscience if she did not react when constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms were breached by groups of people being allowed to commit violence in the name of a certain religion. 

She blamed the weakness of the national leadership and law enforcement that permitted the rampant abuse of minorities’ human rights, including the increasing intolerance among the majority Muslim groups. 

“No one in this society would dare to take the law into their own hands if the national leadership was firm on constitutional rights, if the police enforced the law and took harsh action against any violations of the law,” she said.

Eva also criticized what she described as a deviant development at the Religious Affairs Ministry, which had seen Muslims defending Islam militantly, instead of encouraging them to live in harmony with other faiths.

“Islam needs no defenders and Muslims need no protection because they are the majority. And the government has to play its important role in facilitating religious leaders to use their influence in campaigning for religious harmony and stamping out the increasing intolerance in society.”

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/04/23/eva-kusuma-sundari-defending-pluralism.html