Steve G. C. Gaspersz, Universitas Kristen Indonesia Maluku – Ambon
The ICRS researchers’ team presented their latest research at the ICRS Special Panel of The 6th International Conference and Consolidation on Indigenous Religion (ICIR) on 24 October 2024 at the Institut Agama Kristen Negeri (IAKN) Ambon. All three presented a very rigorous analytical perspective with excellent qualitative data. Let’s take a quick look at the content of the research they presented.
- Leonard C. Epafras, “Digital Inclusivity of Believers in Almighty God (Penghayat Kepercayaan): Comprehending the Digital Realm as a Space of Becoming in a Polarized Society”. In his presentation, the Penghayat are described as a group of ancestral believers, cultural communities (adat), spiritual movements, and recipients of mental health services, which are examined on how they respond to three issues: (1) the formulation of the definition of religion by the government; (2) a scaled campaign on digital literacy; and (3) post-2017 political polarization. The believer’s strategy to present themselves as a minority in a majority-minded society was also discussed.
- Hendrikus P. Kaunang, “Navigating Digital Realms: Hospitality and Hostility Encountered by the Baduy Community”. This presentation explores the dynamics of interaction between the Baduy community and the digital world. This study aims to explore how digital inclusion affects the Baduy community in the categories of hospitality and hostility. On one hand, digital access opens up opportunities to widely introduce cultural practices, education, and economic prospects through tourism. However, on the other hand, the context also exposes them to cultural dilution, cyber threats, and the erosion of cultural values that have an impact on the emergence of social frictions.
- David A. H. Rafsanjani, “Being Citizen and Netizen: The Dynamics and Challenges of Organisasi Si Raja Batak as a Minority Group in Indonesia”. This presentation presents the dynamics and challenges of the Organisasi Si Raja Batak which, since its formation in 1971 in North Sumatra, has experienced various forms of discrimination. In the social environment, they experience verbal violence by being labeled as a group of misguided people. As citizens, they are discriminated against because they must continue to list the “official religion” on their ID cards, and their members face hate speech, threats, and prejudice on social media.
In their presentations, the three panelists showed the complexity of the existential issue of indigenous faith communities throughout Indonesian history, which can be thought of as starting when the Indonesian nation-state entity was proclaimed in 1945. The reality of plurality, which was initially accepted as the “spirit of common struggle” against the tyranny of colonialism, then underwent an ideological transformation as a relationship that was loaded with conflicts of interest to get the opportunity to dominate through quantitative calculations that were sociologically labeled as majority-minority relations. The relationship hardens when “majority-minority” is confirmed as a democratic platform that favors social groups with more dominant ethnic and religious identities.
The penghayat is in the middle of a vortex of identity politics that has emerged since Indonesia became a nation-state in 1945. Identity tensions and negotiations have colored the dynamics of democracy since the republic was proclaimed that year and are considered by many ideological groups as an opportunity to accumulate power that provides one-sided benefits by constantly blowing identity politics and social polarization based on ethnic and religious affiliations.
The Indigenous communities of the Nusantara express ethnic and religious identities as an inseparable unity that reflects the cosmic unity of Indigenous spirituality, which has been marginalized by the insistence on the definition of “religion” created by political powers within the government from 1945 to the present. Despite having existed long before the arrival of world religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity), the Indigenous spirituality of the various Nusantara communities has been increasingly marginalized and further eroded by the insistence on religious conversions that position them as “heretics” or “infidels”. It is the sociological and ideological context that differentiates the indigenous faiths from the politically recognized religious groups in Indonesia.
The decision of the Constitutional Court (MK) No. 97/PUU-XIV/2016 that allows believers to include “Belief in God Almighty” in the religion column of the ID card is an important transformative breakthrough after a long negotiation with various religious groups and political forces that benefit by using the issue of religious identity. This can be seen as a gradual ideological deconstruction of the structure of religious consciousness that has been precipitated and hardened through Indonesia’s education system, religion, and cultural paradigm so far.
Previously, the penghayat community was always a victim of discrimination in terms of population administration and civil rights because it was not officially recognized, and in some cases, it was difficult to get access to education and public services. With this decision, the penghayat community began to receive more space to access civil rights, such as legal marriage, education for children, and inheritance rights. However, the implementation of this policy at the local level still faces obstacles, mainly due to differences in interpretation in various regions.
In addition to the Constitutional Court’s decision, advocacy for the identity and citizenship rights of indigenous groups is becoming more robust with the support of digital technology through various social media platforms, as shown in the presentations of the three panelists. The role of social media in the campaign of Indonesia’s indigenous groups is increasingly important, especially in fighting for recognition, disseminating information, and against discrimination.
However, in addition to success stories from the advocacy movement of Indigenous groups through social media, several challenges remain to be considered so that the internet does not turn into a new arena of discrimination for Indigenous groups.
1. Social stigma and discrimination. The experience of discrimination for six decades still strongly shapes the stigma of “irreligious” for Indigenous groups in Indonesia, especially by religious groups that narrowly see the existence of Indigenous groups as an opportunity for proselytization in order to strengthen an important quantitative base in the calculation of proportional democracy in this republic.
2. Limited access to technology and digital literacy. Although some penghayat communities have utilized social media to educate the public, the gap in digital access is still a serious obstacle, especially for penghayat communities living in remote areas with limited internet access. This limits the movement of digital literacy and technology for their campaigns.
3. Threat of hate speech and intolerance. Social media has the potential to become a new arena for campaigns that discredit the existence of penghayat communities. Hate speech and virtual intolerance from religious groups that do not support their existence are also intensively launched on social media. Verbal bouts, intimidation, and threats of violence in the digital space make the penghayat community campaign vulnerable to disruption, especially when raising sensitive issues.
4. Unbalanced policy implementation. Although there has been a Constitutional Court decision that recognizes the rights of penghayat communities by including “belief” in the ID card, the implementation of this policy has not been evenly distributed at the regional level. In some regions, local government officials have not fully accepted or implemented the regulation, so many penghayat communities still have difficulty obtaining proper administrative rights.
5. Lack of public awareness. Many people still do not understand the role and existence of penghayat groups in the context of Indonesia’s diversity, which makes penghayat advocacy on social media often not get wide support. This is still a challenge in the social equality campaign for the penghayat community.
Finally, some indigenous communities in Maluku that still embrace indigenous spirituality and live separately and/or together with adherents of world religions (Islam and Christianity) have not been fully advocated for in terms of their citizenship rights as Indonesian citizens. Generally, they are categorized as indigenous peoples or masyarakat adat who practice pre-religious social and spiritual traditions and are still targets of proselytization by major religions in the region. The beliefs and practices of indigenous spirituality they practice are commonly called “Hinduism”, as a label that confirms that they are not yet religious, i.e. not yet Muslim and/or not yet Christian. In the context of Maluku, the existence of these indigenous peoples has not received serious attention to their citizenship rights, other than as observed subjects in sociocultural research. One is Pieter Pelupessy’s 23-year ethnographic research on the Orang Bati community on Seram Island, which is generally seen as a mysterious and feared community, called the orang ilang-ilang (invisible people).
The three panelists presented us with an opportunity to expand the area of advocacy with a more significant resonance through digital technology and social media. In my opinion, this development should not only be seen as an opportunity for the indigenous community itself. Instead, it will be stronger if the development also encourages every citizen who already belongs to major religions in Indonesia to recognize the citizenship rights of the penghayat community in order to build a common life as a society in a democratic state that recognizes plural forms of religiosity as a future of democracy and guarantees the life and human rights of every citizen. Isn’t that the agreement to become a “free nation-state” that underlies our nationality as Indonesia?
