Indonesia - State Approves App to Report People Committing Blasphemy

Indonesia, the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population, is going modern in its crackdown on individuals who commit blasphemy against their religion through a new Android app that can be used to send reports of such blasphemy. It can very well be considered as a free “heresy app” as well.

The app “Smart Pakem” was launched on Sunday and is free in the Google Play store. The Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office created it. The state office says it will strongly help “educate the public and modernize the current reporting process.”

The app, however, is not only intended to uphold Sharia law but chillingly, also target and report people who hold “misguided” beliefs that are supposed to violate Islamic law. Among those forbidden are insults made against Islam, insults against the Prophet Mohammed, and even the recognition of any other religion besides Islam.

Indonesia’s criminal code also forbids blasphemy, with a maximum of five years imprisonment to those who will be found guilty of the act.

Users of the new app can report groups practicing other religions or faiths deemed unrecognized in the country outside of the six officially recognized religions including Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism.

The app also makes a list of religious edicts and blacklisted organizations and will allow users to file complaints in an instant- a very convenient way as opposed to the more time-consuming and more complicated process of submitting a written complaint to a government office.

Nirwan Nawawi, spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office, defends the app and says: “The objective is to provide easier access to information about the spread of beliefs in Indonesia, to educate the public and to prevent them from following doctrines from an individual or a group that are not in line with the regulations.”

Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world that counts a population of around 207 million. Based on the Human Rights Watch report, 125 people were convicted of blasphemy between 2004 and 2014, or throughout a decade. Twenty-three people have been convicted after 2014.

The National Secular Society has expressed their opposition to the app and says the very idea was “incongruous with Google’s mission statement” and “runs directly contrary to the democratic ideals which Google stands for.”

The bigger fear is that the app “will normalize restrictions on freedom of expression in Indonesia and elsewhere.”

The app is also seen as a measure that will hurt religious minorities in the country, and can also be easily abused by those making reckless and even frivolous complaints.

Source:

https://bigleaguepolitics.com/google-approves-app-for-muslims-to-report-people-who-commit-blasphemy/

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2018/12/08/indonesia-launches-heresy-app-to-help-muslims-lodge-blasphemy-complaints/

[tw_tags] #MAGA #KAG #Indonesia #AntiBlasphemyApp #Islam #ReligiousMinorities [/tw_tags]

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