Freedom of religion is at heart of struggle for democracy in Asia
The reprisal against former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has created urgency in Indonesia and elsewhere for protecting civil liberties.
Maybe it is time to stop asking the question, frequently raised in the West, of whether democracy and Islam are compatible. The more salient question appears to be how any democratic nation can preserve itself if freedom of belief is not protected.
At a recent gathering in Jakarta organized by the International Association of Religion Journalists and Sejuk, an association of Indonesian journalists, participants from 15 Asian nations revealed how political appeals to religious constituencies have roiled democracies across the region and the world.
In Myanmar, the military has engaged in what many throughout the world have described as the ethnic cleansing of its Rohingya Muslim minority population with the support of extreme nationalist Buddhist leaders.
