Sep 7, 2023

USCIRF Releases Report on The Bureaucratization of Religion in Southeast Asia

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:

The Bureaucratization of Religion in Southeast Asia – This comprehensive report explores the bureaucratization of religion in four countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. This bureaucratization is a phenomenon that occurs through the use of administrative mechanisms to manage religious affairs in their respective jurisdictions. Through this process, civil servants receive the authority to undertake direct and ideological intervention in domestic religious affairs, negatively impacting not just religious, ethnic, gender, racial, and sexual minorities, but also members of the respective religious majorities. This report highlights five major features of bureaucratization of religion that limits individuals’ right to religious freedom: the use of national religious frameworks and administrative structures; the close relationships between quasi-governmental religious organizations and governments; the exploitation of administrative frameworks to shape the manifestation of religion; the rise of moral policing institutions; and the development of dual legal jurisdictions.

In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State place both Indonesia and Malaysia on its Special Watch List. USCIRF also raised concerns about the implications for religious freedom of rising authoritarianism in Southeast Asia in a March 2023 event, and assessed the state of blasphemy laws across the region in an October 2022 report and accompanying episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast.

###

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].