ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the legal protection of forum internum in the Indonesian Constitution and Pancasila as the ideology of the country. What makes this chapter significant is in explaining the uneasy relationship between and contentious mixture of constitutional norms of religious freedom and a strong influence of Islamic religious orthodoxy in the protection of religious minorities within Islam. This becomes more problematic due to the different understanding among the Muslim populace concerning religious freedom and the government policies to uphold religious harmony and political stability by restricting the rights of religious minorities within Islam. The failure of constitutional legal protection and the ideology of tolerance to protect religious freedom for the non-mainstream Islamic groups is also examined, to illustrate the complex protection of religious minorities within Islam in Indonesia. This chapter concludes that the protection of forum internum for religious minorities within Islam in Indonesia depends highly on the reception among the Islamic majority rather than constitutional clauses.
