Government to regulate education bill

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Implementation of the national education bill would be set out in government regulations, House of Representatives Commission VI for education deputy chairwoman Chotidjah HM Saleh said Wednesday.

The regulations would ensure effective implementation, she said.

The controversial bill was passed on Wednesday night after the House failed to reach agreement during a plenary session on Tuesday. -- to be taken out if the House delays to pass the bill again.

Chotidjah, of the United Development Party (PPP), said that although the regulations were the prerogative of the president, the House would provide input.

She was commenting on concerns that the public and school administrations would have difficulty understanding the law.

The controversy centers on Article 13 (1), point A, which stipulates that all students, even in religious-based private schools, must receive religious instruction in their own faith.

The religious teachers will be provided by the central and regional administrations.

The chairman of a committee deliberating the education bill, Anwar Arifin, said earlier that the bill was not the state interfering in religious matters.

The Golkar faction legislator said the article was designed to guarantee all students' basic rights.

The bill was designed to ensure a Muslim student studying at a Catholic school could be taught Islam by a Muslim teacher and vice versa, he said.

However, the bill does not say how many students from a particular faith a school must have before the state provides a religious teacher.

Chotidjah said that during deliberations some legislators proposed setting the minimum number of students at 20.

The religious instruction would be knowledge based, not ritual based, she said.

The bill does not provide for penalties for any breaches of the legislation, though the laws will be monitored by the House.

The bill has divided the nation, with many Muslims supporting the bill, while minority Christian groups and secular Muslim organizations, including the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, oppose it.