Legal Literacy - Indonesia is a pluralistic country. The existence of 17,380 islands and more than 700 languages shows that pluralism is a concept close to a multicultural country like Indonesia. In terms of beliefs, diversity is reflected in the existence of traditional beliefs that are customary to certain groups. However, this diversity of beliefs is not welcomed by the state.

Performative Religious Freedom

The exclusivity of the state towards diversity of beliefs is evidenced by the existence of Presidential Decree of the Republic of Indonesia Number 1/PNPS/1965 on the Prevention of Abuse and/or Blasphemy of Religion ("Law No. 1/PNPS/1965"). The high intensity of using the nomenclature "religion practiced in Indonesia" in this regulation shows that a belief gains its validity when it is recognized by positive law. Thus, it gives the impression that freedom of religion in Article 28E paragraph (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ("1945 CONSTITUTION") is just a sweetener that seems to legitimize the existence of beliefs outside the majority belief in Indonesia.

The Explanation of Article 1 of Law No. 1/PNPS/1965 states that what is meant by "religion practiced in Indonesia" is "the religions practiced by almost the entire population of Indonesia", namely Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism (confusius). Thus, the state seems to agree that minorities do not need to be given equal recognition and protection with the majority because of the validity of "religion practiced in Indonesia" is measured by the quantity of adherents.

Although the explanation of Article 1 of Law No. 1/PNPS/1965 later states that beliefs outside of 'religion practiced in Indonesia' remains protected, this is followed by the statement: "With regard to mystical bodies/streams, the Government is trying to channel them towards a healthy view and towards God Almighty." The use of the phrase 'healthy' is derogative. Through this nomenclature, it can be interpreted that adherents of a mystical body/stream are 'sick' and need to be 'nourished' by embracing the majority faith. This shows that the state is still biased in giving recognition. The state considers that the small quantity of adherents is justification for neglect. Thus, the state is violating its responsibility to be inclusive of minorities.

The Adminduk Law and its 'Haphazard' Settlement

Spiritual bodies/streams that adhere to beliefs outside of the 'religions practiced in Indonesia' are known as Penghayat Kepercayaan. As explained in the previous section, Penghayat Kepercayaan faces systemic discrimination through policies that exclude the interests of Penghayat Kepercayaan. In addition to the existence of Law No. 1/PNPS/1965, the existence of Law No. 24/2013 on the Amendment to Law No. 23/2006 on Population Administration ("Civil Registration Law") contributes to administrative discrimination.

Article 64 paragraphs (1) and (5) of the Civil Registration Law require the religion column to be filled in the Identity Card (KTP). For religions that have not been 'recognized' as religions in laws and regulations or indigenous faiths, this column is left blank. This is a discriminatory policy because the Civil Registration Law justifies the separation of belief groups into two. First, legitimate religions, which are 'recognized' religions. Second, invalid religion, which is a religion that is 'not recognized'.

The emptying of the religion column cannot be equated with recognition. Recognition occurs when adherents have the right to write their beliefs in the religion column, for example by clearly stating the name of the belief 'marapu' or 'kejawen', not just the emptying of the [1] column. If a person is given the option to leave their religion column blank in addition to the option to write the name of their belief, then there has been state recognition and substantive religious freedom. If that scenario has not been achieved, then the state is not recognizing but giving a false rejection of the recognition efforts of Penghayat Kepercayaan [2].

In response to the issue of the Civil Registration Law, Constitutional Court issued Decision No. 97/PUU-XIV/2016 which allowed the inclusion of 'Penghayat Kepercayaan' in the religion column. However, the problem is not immediately solved because its implementation is still hampered. Reducing the name of beliefs to 'Penghayat Kepercayaan' is still discriminatory. It seems to divide beliefs into two groups, namely the 'recognized' groups (Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism) and the Penghayat Kepercayaan group (beliefs other than those 'recognized'). The existence of this decision is evidence that the state is still reluctant to give explicit recognition. Therefore, recognition is given in the minimum sense, just to show a pseudo-recognition that still segregates Penghayat Kepercayaan from the majority of beliefs.

Through systemic segregation, Penghayat Kepercayaan become a marginalized group. With the fact that Penghayat Kepercayaan is a minority whose existence is not fully recognized, Penghayat Kepercayaan becomes vulnerable to discrimination both systemically, administratively, and socially. This is because conservative societies have a tendency to discriminate against members of subcultures, namely minorities that are inherently vulnerable to marginalization.