Izak Lattu

Izak Lattu, a doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Studies, denounces changes by the Indonesian government which oppress practioners of indigenous religion.

"Although indigenous faiths such as Sunda Wiwitan, Kejawen and other forms of traditional beliefs represent local ways of addressing the Ultimate Reality, they nonetheless encounter discrimination on a political basis....

"Having been suppressed, the Sunda Wiwitan community is now longing for freedom of religious expression. Unfortunately, neither the national government nor the local government of Bandung have dealt...

Izak Lattu, doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Studies, explains how the actions of one Indonesian politician marks the exception to the general principle of religious tolerance in the country for which it is revered.

"It has been years of agony for GKI Taman Yasmin Protestant church congregation members as Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto has defied a Supreme Court decision to allow them to attend Sunday mass in their place of worship.

Budiarto’s bureaucratic move reflects the failure of not only law enforcement in the city, but also of the country’s civil justice system....

Izak Lattu, a doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Studies, speaks against acts of violence perpetrated in the name of religion.

"Using violence based on religion is blatantly misleading; religion does not lead to violence but to love and peace instead. The suicide bomb that occurred in the Bethel Injil Sepenuh Church (GBIS) Surakarta, also known as Solo, Central Java, is not linked with one particular religion and the fatalities should be perceived as victims rather than as the believers of a certain religion. In my point of view, the problem should be located in the victim-...