Cilegon Recorded as the Most Intolerant City in Indonesia, Why?

SETARA Institute has recently published a list ranking the most tolerant cities in Indonesia. According to the 2022 Tolerance City Index (IKT), Cilegon has the lowest tolerance score, meaning that the residents of Cilegon are the least tolerant in Indonesia.

Cilegon’s IKT score for that year was only 3.227 out of a score range of 1-7, putting the city in the 94th position. The second city on the list of the most intolerant cities was Depok with a score of 3.610 and the 93rd position.

The Chairman of SETARA Institute, Ismail Hasani, explained the reasons why Cilegon received the lowest score. He stated that Cilegon received a low score on three of the four assessment variables set by the institute.

“The first is the actions of the government. They agreed with members of the community who hold intolerant political aspirations to ban people from building places of worship. So in terms of government action, it is already at zero,” he said, as quoted on Sunday (9/4/2023).

Ismail continued, saying that in terms of policy, which is the second variable, the Cilegon government still adheres to Circular Letter 1975, which prohibits the establishment of churches in the city of Cilegon. However, he pointed out that this circular letter contained instructions for the city of Serang.

“With this still being adhered to, they still believe that this discriminatory legal product is the legal basis, which is two variables,” he added.

As for the third variable, which is the community, Ismail said that the representation of intolerant members of society dominated public spaces in Cilegon. Therefore, the Tolerance City Index score in Cilegon automatically became the lowest in Indonesia.

“With three variables that are still problematic to this day, our researchers concluded and gave a lower score than last year,” Ismail said.

Regarding Depok, he revealed that the final score of the assessment did not show a significant increase compared to the previous year. However, the city of Cilegon experienced a decrease in score and position.

In 2021, Depok scored 3.577, while in the 2022 IKT, it scored 3.610. Meanwhile, in 2021, Cilegon was in the third-lowest position with a final score of 4.087 and now has a final score of 3.227.

Here is a list of the 10 cities with the lowest IKT 2022 scores according to SETARA Institute:

Rank 85: Prabumulih with a score of 4.510

Rank 86: Lhokseumawe with a score of 4.493

Rank 87: Pariaman with a score of 4.450

Rank 88: Medan with a score of 4.420

Rank 89: Banda Aceh with a score of 4.393

Rank 90: Mataram with a score of 4.387

Rank 91: Sabang with a score of 4.257

Rank 92: Padang with a score of 4.060

Rank 93: Depok with a score of 3.610

Rank 94: Cilegon with a score of 3.227.