Court handling conflicts over sects
Court handling conflicts over sects
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court has ordered the government to suspend the expulsion of two Buddhist denominations, Majelis Buddhayana Indonesia (MBI) and Sangha Agung Indonesia (Sagin), from the Indonesian Buddhist Council (Walubi), an umbrella organization.
"The Jakarta State Administrative Court's decision is valid until the internal dispute in Walubi settled," Chief Judge Benjamin Mangkoedilaga said in the verdict, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post.
Lieus Sungkharisma, who represents the two denominations in the lawsuit against the government, told the Post yesterday that he received the court's decision on Dec. 31, 1994, while the verdict was made on Dec. 27.
He said that the court's judges accepted the reasoning set forth by the two plaintiffs in their lawsuit.
On Wednesday, the court began to examine MBI's and Sagin's suit against the director general for Hindu and Buddhist affairs for endorsing their expulsion from Walubi at a meeting with Walubi executive board members on Oct. 21, 1994.
Lieus said that the court was examining the documents and it ruled that the plaintiffs' lawsuit was valid.
Quoting Benjamin, he said the court would continue the legal process.
MBI and Sagin have charged that the government reportedly endorsed the board's decision a week earlier to expel the two denominations, which have been locked in a power struggle to lead the board with the other seven denominations.
The board said the two denominations have refused to sign Walubi's statutes, which were drawn up at the council's last general assembly in December 1992.
The two denominations, said in the lawsuit that the government, in this case the Director General for Hindu and Buddhist affairs, I Ketut Pasek, did not have the right to intervene in the internal affairs of Walubi.
They said that the director general, as the patron of Walubi, was supposed to help solve the dispute in Walubi's executive board and not to take sides.
The two denominations also are suing Girirakkhito Mahathera and Budi Setiawan, respectively the Walubi chairman and secretary-general, the ones who issued the decree expelling the two denominations.
They said that Girirakkhito and Budi violated Walubi's Code of Ethics and the Buddhists' pledge declared in 1979, which upholds harmony and non-violent means of solving any internal conflict.
They said that Girirakkhito and Budi repeatedly made personal decisions without a plenary meeting of the 13-member executive board.(imn)