The Silent Discrimination of Administrative Law: How Local Regulations Produce Unequal Citizenship for Religious Minorities in Indonesia

Abstract

Discrimination against religious minorities does not always emerge through explicitly discriminatory legislation. It may instead operate through local administrative regulations that appear neutral but generate disproportionate burdens for minority communities. This article investigates how local regulations and administrative practices can produce unequal citizenship for religious minorities in Indonesia. The study employs a normative juridical and comparative approach by examining constitutional principles, national legislation, selected regional regulations, administrative practices, and judicial decisions involving religious freedom and minority protection. The analysis uses equality, non-discrimination, proportionality, and administrative justice as analytical frameworks. The article demonstrates that regulatory language emphasizing public order, social harmony, or community approval may provide broad discretion to local authorities while enabling majoritarian preferences to influence administrative decisions. Consequently, formal equality can coexist with substantive inequality. The study argues that administrative law should not be assessed solely according to procedural legality but also according to its distributive and rights-based consequences. It proposes stronger constitutional review of local regulations, clearer limits on administrative discretion, and effective remedies for minorities affected by discriminatory implementation. The article concludes that minority justice requires the transformation of administrative law from a system primarily concerned with governmental authority into a framework capable of actively preventing structural exclusion. This perspective broadens minority-rights analysis beyond explicit discrimination toward the less visible mechanisms embedded within ordinary governance.