Indonesian authorities have removed a Catholic from his role as the head of a sub-district after protests from Muslim residents at the appointment of a Christian.
Yulius Suharto, head of the Pajangan sub-district in the Bantul Regency of the Special Region of Yogyakarta, was only appointed on 30 December but will now be moved to a region where the majority are not Muslims, reports Asia News.
The move came after local Muslims campaigned against his appointment on social media.
World Watch Monitor recently reported that Indonesia has shown a steady increase in violations of religious freedom over the past year, according to the country’s National Commission for Human Rights. Indonesia also features on Christian charity Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to live as a Christian. Indonesia is no. 46 on the 2017 list.
Two high-profile blasphemy cases are currently ongoing in the country – the first against the Christian Governor of Jakarta for allegedly “misusing” a verse from the Qur’an; the second against a Muslim cleric alleged to have mocked Christianity.