Living a double life: Indonesia’s atheists fear jail or worse
■ Criticising religion, particularly Islam, can land people in jail in country
As a university student, Luna Atmowijoyo prayed five times a day, refused to shake hands with men who weren’t relatives and was “more fundamentalist” than her pious Muslim parents.
But a decade later, Atmowijoyo has turned her back on Islam and is among a small number of atheists in Indonesia who live in fear of jail or violent reprisals from religious hardliners.
Leading a double life — devout Muslim on the outside, non- believer on the inside — is often the only choice for atheists in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country.
Atmowijoyo, who lives with her parents, still wears a Muslim headscarf to escape the wrath of an abusive father who knows nothing of his daughter’s change of heart, which started when she was told to avoid friendships with non- Muslims. “A lot of simple things started to bother me,” said the 30year- old, who asked AFP not to use her real name.
“Like I couldn’t say Merry Christmas or Happy Waisak to people of other religions,” she added, referring to a Buddhist holiday also known as Vesak or Buddha’s Birthday in other parts of Asia.
Treating gay people as abnormal was another problem and it soon became impossible for Atmowijoyo — once a conservative Islamic party member — to square the Koran’s teachings with science. Then the unthinkable crept into her mind: God does not exist.
The sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago is officially pluralist with six major religions recognised, including Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism, while freedom of expression is supposed to be guaranteed by law. But criticising religion — particularly Islam, which is followed by nearly 90 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million citizens — can land you in jail.
This year, a university student was charged for a Facebook post that compared Allah to the Greek gods and said the Koran was no more scientific than the Lord of the Rings. He faces up to five years in prison.
The sprawling archipelago is officially pluralist with six major religions recognised, including Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism
But criticising religion — particularly Islam, which is followed by nearly 90 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million citizens — can land you in jail