Government sued for intervention

JAKARTA (JP): Two Buddhist denominations yesterday filed a lawsuit at the Jakarta Administrative Council against the government for endorsing their expulsion from the Indonesian Buddhist Council (Walubi), an umbrella organization for all Buddhist groups.

Majelis Buddhayana Indonesia (MBI) and Sangha Agung Indonesia (Sagin) said the government, in this case the Director General for Hindu and Buddhist Affairs at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, I Ketut Pasek, did not have any right to intervene in the internal affairs of Walubi.

"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. "It was not supposed to take sides in the dispute within the board," Lieus said.

The government, at a meeting with Walubi executive board members on Wednesday, reportedly endorsed the board's decision in October 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.

Siti Hartarti Murdaya, head of Walubi's honorary board, on Thursday, accused MBI and Sagin of applying a different faith than most other Buddhists denominations.

The Walubi executive board has sent letters to the government explaining that the two groups could no longer be called Buddhist organizations. They are simply mass organizations which should be registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs and not the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

In the lawsuit, MBI and Sagin also named Girirakkhito Mahathera and Budi Setiawan, respectively Walubi chairman and secretary-general, as defendants because they were the ones who issued the decree expelling the two denominations.

Lieus said that Girirakkhito and Budi violated Walubi's Code of Ethics and the Buddhists' pledge declared in 1979, which extol harmony and no violence in solving any internal conflict.

He said Girirakkhito and Budi repeatedly made personal decisions without going through a plenary meeting of the 13- member executive board. "Every personal decision made is against Walubi's statutes and regulations," Lieus said.

Lieus asked the court to cancel the letter issued by the Directorate General of Hinduism and Buddhism and to order Girirakkhito Mahathera and Budi Setiawan to rehabilitate the names of the plaintiffs and accept them as members of Walubi's executive board. (imn)