Court turns down Buddhist lawsuit
Court turns down Buddhist lawsuit
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta State Administrative Court has rejected a lawsuit filed by two Buddhist denominations against the government for endorsing the Indonesian Buddhist Council's decision to expel them.
The court ruling to dismiss the lawsuit after three hearings was announced by the Indonesian Buddhist Council (Walubi) and reported by Antara yesterday.
The two Buddhist sects, Majelis Buddhayana Indonesia (MBI) and Sangha Agung Indonesia (Sagin), have called the government's decision to support Walubi's move to expel them interference in the affairs of the Buddhist community.
The sects also named Walubi as a defendant and demanded that the court order the council to overturn their expulsion.
They said the Director General for Hindu and Buddhist Affairs I Ketut Pasek did not have any right to intervene in Walubi's internal affairs.
"The director general, as the patron of Walubi, is supposed to help solve the dispute in Walubi's executive board," the head of the Youth Department of MBI, Lieus Sungkharisma, who represents the two plaintiffs, said in the lawsuit.
He also said that the director general was not supposed to take sides in the dispute within the board.
Walubi did not state the reason given by the court in its ruling.
The lawsuit, filed in December, came after a long battle for the leadership of Walubi between the various Buddhist sects in the country.
The Jakarta State Administrative Court had earlier ordered the government to suspend the expulsion of the two denominations pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Lieus yesterday said he had not been formally informed about court ruling. "I will go to the Jakarta State Administrative Court next Monday to obtain the court's decision," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
"We probably will file an appeal against the court's dismissal," he added.
He said that the court's dismissal came as a surprise to followers of the two denominations. "It is strange that the court could decide to accept the lawsuit only to dismiss it after three hearings. (imn)