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)