Council rejects nat'l education bill
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua
The Papua Provincial Legislative Council decided on Friday that it would refuse to implement the newly endorsed bill on national education in the province, saying that the bill would only compartmentalize citizens based on religion and could further trigger national disintegration.
The council's Commission E chairman Hulda Wanggober said that the decision not to implement the bill was made during a special plenary meeting to discuss the implementation of the bill in the province.
She asked the central government to allow the Papua administration to use Law No. 21/2001 on Papua province's special autonomy to formulate a bylaw on education in Papua.
"Based on the Special Autonomy Law, education in Papua should be regulated under a provincial bylaw or special bylaw, but the mechanism cannot be implemented yet because the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) has not been established," she said.
Therefore, she called on the central government to immediately issue a government regulation on the MRP so that it could be used as a basis to formulate a special bylaw on education in Papua.
Before the issuance of a special bylaw on education in Papua, she suggested that all schools in the province managed by regional administrations and Christian and Islamic foundations refer to the previous Law No. 2/1989 on education.
The House of Representatives endorsed the education bill on June 11, but the largest faction in the House, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) did not approve the bill and refused to attend the endorsement meeting.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has 30 days to sign the bill, but even if she fails to endorse it within that period, it will automatically come into effect.
But theoretically, Megawati, who chairs PDI Perjuangan, still has a chance to block the implementation of the bill by refusing to sign the necessary operational government regulations.
The bill will need 10 government regulations for effective implementation.
Provinces in eastern Indonesia that are predominantly Christian, like North Sulawesi and Papua, plan to file petitions for a judicial review with the Supreme Court against the bill.
They object to Article 13 of the bill, which stipulates that students have the right to receive religious instruction and requires schools to allow teachers to give religious instruction to their students.
They claim this stipulation is erroneous, because this responsibility should fall on parents and religious institutions, including mosques, churches and temples.
Legislator Piet Hein Awangkok concurred with Hulda.
Piet said that national education should focus on educating people, not religious affairs.
The chairman of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) in Papua, Zubair Daeng Husein, said the newly endorsed education bill was not suitable for implementation in Papua.