Opinion ID: 3065509
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Christians Are a Disfavored Group in Indonesia

Text: [4] A “disfavored group” is “a group of individuals in a certain country or part of a country, all of whom share a common, protected characteristic, many of whom are mistreated, and a substantial number of whom are persecuted” but who are “not threatened by a pattern or practice of systematic persecution.” Wakkary, 558 F.3d at 1052, 1062 (brackets and internal quotation marks omitted). Although we held in Sael, 386 F.3d at 927, that the ethnic Chinese are a disfavored group in Indonesia, and suggested in Wakkary, 558 F.3d at 1063, that Chinese Christians are disfavored in Indonesia, we have never determined whether Christians who are not Chinese are a disfavored group in Indonesia. In Sael, we held that Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority are a “disfavored group” because of Indonesia’s long history of anti-Chinese violence and official discrimination. 386 F.3d at 927. We noted that official policies of ethnic tolerance and decreased numbers of racially motivated attacks did not diminish the “disfavored” status of ethnic Chinese because official discrimination continued and Chinese-Indonesians experienced “centuries of persecution.” Id. at 929. Here, petitioners have also submitted compelling evidence that Christians in Indonesia are subject to violence and official discrimination. [5] Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country. Nearly 90 % of Indonesians are Muslim, while Protestant Christians only account for 6 % of the population. According 3746 TAMPUBOLON v. HOLDER to the 2003 U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Indonesia (“Country Report”), “[t]he Government . . . frequently failed to protect adequately the fundamental rights . . . of religious minorities.” Muslims and Christians lived together in relative peace until the 1990s when President Suharto began courting militant Islamic groups to maintain his political power. See Mieke Kooistra, Minority Rights Group Int’l, Indonesia: Regional Conflicts and State Terror 14 (2001). Consequently, militant Islam increased in strength and political influence. Id. During this time, Suharto purged his cabinet and army of Christians and replaced them with fundamentalist Muslims. Id. Even after Suharto’s regime ended, the military and political elite continued to protect violent Muslim militia groups, such as Laskar Jihad, whose goal is to kill, convert, or drive out all non-Muslims from certain parts of Indonesia. Id. at 20; see also Paul Marshall, Jihad Comes to Indonesia, The Weekly Standard, Dec. 31, 2001, at 20. [6] The Indonesian government’s support of, or at the very least, acquiescence in, militant expressions of Islam has subjected Christians to violent persecution in Indonesia. The record demonstrates that Christian churches throughout Indonesia have been burned, bombed, and vandalized by Muslim extremists. These attacks are often accompanied by threats, such as: “God has no son. Jesus could not help you. Until doomsday, Muslims will not make peace with Christians. Death to all Christians.” See Seth Mydans, Jihad Seethes, and Grows, on Indonesian Island, N.Y. Times, Jan. 10, 2002, at A3. Petitioners’ family members who remain in Indonesia have been affected by these attacks. For example, Silitonga testified that Muslim extremists threatened to kill people who attended worship service at her sister’s church in Sumatra on Christmas Eve in 2000. According to the 2003 U.S. Department of State International Religious Freedom Report on Indonesia (“Religious Freedom Report”), at least 25 churches were destroyed in 2003. Although mosques are also subject to TAMPUBOLON v. HOLDER 3747 attack, only one mosque was destroyed during the same reporting period. [7] Christians living in some areas, such as the Maluku Islands, are subject to even greater violence, such as forced conversions and ritual circumcisions. See, e.g., Catherine Philp, Indonesian Christians Butchered in Islamic ‘Crusades’, The Scotsman, July 8, 2001, at 18. In these areas, Christian villages are attacked and Christians are forced to flee their homes. Another concern is that Christians, who like all Indonesians must carry identification cards denoting their religious affiliation, are murdered at unofficial identification checkpoints. [8] Laskar Jihad is responsible for much of the Christiantargeted violence in Indonesia. The activities of this paramilitary group escalated the bilateral Muslim-Christian tensions to a one-sided religious cleansing and slaughter of Christians between 1998 and 2002. Marshall, supra at 20. According to local eyewitnesses, the military participates in attacks on churches, and Indonesians widely believe that the government cannot or will not protect Christians against Muslim attacks. See, e.g., Indonesian Military Deny Allegations Soldiers Took Part in Church Attack, Associated Press, Apr. 29, 2002 (witnesses stated that uniformed soldiers participated in an attack on a church); Philp, supra at 18 (noting that the government’s reaction to forced conversions and circumcisions was “astonishingly weak”); Kooistra, supra at 20 (noting that “it is obvious that [Laskar Jihad] is well-armed, well-financed and wellprotected by the military or powerful people with connections to the former ruling elite”). Despite reductions of interreligious violence, the Religious Freedom Report notes that the government failed to hold accountable religious extremists who killed and terrorized Christians, even as it fully prosecuted and punished Christian leaders for subversion. [9] In addition to condoning or turning a blind eye to the persecution of Christians by private individuals, evidence in 3748 TAMPUBOLON v. HOLDER the record indicates that the Indonesian government discriminates against Christians. For example, according to the Religious Freedom Report, Christians complained that the government made it harder for them to build houses of worship than Muslims. Religious minorities also contend that they are excluded from prime civil service postings and slots at public universities. [10] Christian Indonesians have also suffered private discrimination and marginalization by the general populace. For example, the 2003 Country Report noted that estates housing only Muslims have grown increasingly popular. Moreover, according to a 2002 survey in Jakarta, 79.6% of respondents believed that the government should outlaw groups that follow faiths other than Islam, 72.5% believed that members of minority religions should not be permitted to teach in public schools, 58% support an Islamic state, and 42% would not allow churches to be built in their neighborhood. See Devi Asmarani, Many Muslim Indonesians Say They Want an Islamic State, The Straits Times (Singapore), Jan. 2, 2002, at 1-2. [11] Christian Indonesians are targeted for violence and experience official and unofficial discrimination in many facets of their lives. Although the record demonstrates that the Indonesian government does not promulgate facially discriminatory laws against Christians, this fact does not address its discriminatory enforcement of facially neutral laws or its acquiescence in widespread private discrimination and violence against Christians. See Sael, 386 F.3d at 929. The record demonstrates that Christian Indonesians are mistreated, and some are subject to persecution. See Wakkary, 558 F.3d at 1052. Accordingly, any reasonable factfinder would be compelled to conclude on this record that Christian Indonesians are a disfavored group. TAMPUBOLON v. HOLDER 3749