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Ministry drafts legal basis for tolerance
Jakarta Post - November 11, 2014
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said on Monday that the drafted regulation, called the protection of religious communities bill, will allow all religious groups to perform religious teachings in public.
Lukman said that the bill, which was expected to be submitted to the House of Representatives for approval by April next year, is an elaboration of the Constitution's guarantee of freedom for all followers of religious communities to observe their faiths.
"For each of us, whether or not the state recognizes [the faith], there will be a guarantee for the protection of whichever faiths the people want to embrace and how they perform [them]," Lukman told the press at his office on Monday.
The politician from the Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP) said that the bill would also eliminate the current choke holds civil administrations have on minority groups, such as those related to the issuance of ID cards, birth certificates and marriage certificates.
He also expressed support for Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, who recently gave the green light to residents to leave the religion column on their ID cards blank if they do not feel they belong to any of the six religions recognized by the state.
"So don't use terms like 'state-recognized [religion]' because this is problematic. It still raises controversy even in the internal [ministry] whether or not the state possesses the authority to formalize religions. The most important thing is how [the state] protects [religious communities]," Lukman said.
Additionally, he added, the bill was also expected to regulate other aspects of religious life that might concern public spaces, such as, among other things, the construction of houses of worship, proselytizing or funerals.
The ministry's initiative to formulate such a bill will likely supersede the 2010 draft bill on religious tolerance initiated by the House of Representatives, which was abandoned because of criticism over articles promoting tolerance.
Before speaking to the press on the matter, Lukman, a former deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), held a closed-door meeting with rights activists from the Setara Institute to discuss suggestions for the new draft bill, as well as efforts to uphold tolerance in a country that housed diverse faiths.
"Once approved, the bill will thus annul all other laws and regulations deemed discriminatory, including, among others, the joint ministerial decree on the construction of houses of worship and on the Ahmadiyah, as well as the 1965 Law on Blasphemy," Setara deputy head Bonar Tigor Naipospos said on the sidelines of the meeting.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/11/ministry-drafts-legal-basis-tolerance.html.
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