Govt stance on Confucianism criticized
Govt stance on Confucianism criticized
SURABAYA (JP): Observers criticized yesterday the government's
stance on the number of religions to be classified as
"sanctioned".
Moslem scholars Abdurrahman Wahid and Djohan Effendi, together
with human rights campaigner Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto agreed in a
seminar here yesterday that in a state which upholds people's
sovereignty and the principles of justice and freedom, the
government had no right to impose a limitation on the number of
religions its subjects could embrace.
"The government has been too formalistic and bureaucratic in
viewing the existence of religions here," said Abdurrahman,
chairman of the 30-million strong Moslem organization Nahdlatul
Ulama.
There are five recognized faiths in Indonesia:
Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism and Hinduism.
Confucianism, despite its large following, is unrecognized; some
officials consider it as a school of philosophy.
"This stance displays the government's excessive hegemony in
regulating religions," said Abdurrahman, who is better-known as
Gus Dur.
Held by the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Surabaya
University, the seminar, titled "The Existence of Religions and
Human Rights", was focused on the case of a couple of Chinese-
descent who, married in a traditional Confucius ceremony, were
denied a marriage certificate by a local civil registry office.
Lanny Guito and Budi Wijaya were told by the office that they
should register in one of the five recognized religions. The
couple refused and filed a lawsuit against the office.
The office based its rejection on a Ministry of Home Affairs
decree and other documents. The officials argued that, according
to the documents, Confucianism is "not a religion, but simply a
school of philosophy".
Lanny gave birth to a baby girl in July, who is yet to be
named. The couple could not request a birth certificate -- thus
legally naming their baby -- without a marriage certificate.
Abdurrahman said history had shown that all the ancient kings
that ruled Indonesia had always respected religions other than
their own that their subjects followed.
"If the government now refuses to recognize Confucianism, then
the stance is antihistoric," he said.
Djohan Effendi, a senior researcher at the Ministry of
Religious Affairs, seconded Abdurrahman, saying that the
government lacks a clear concept as to what it meant when it
stated that Indonesia is neither a theocratic nor a secular
state.
"Religions should be given the autonomy to regulate
themselves," Djohan said.
Djohan said he believed that Confucianism had all the
"conditions" that qualified it to be called a religion. "The
question of (whether to recognize) Confucianism is closely
related with that of the freedom of belief, which the
Constitution guarantees," he said.
He criticized the government's stance, which turned itself
into a source of legitimacy for religions. "This way, the
existence of a religion is determined by the policies of the
power holders," he said.
Soetandyo reiterated that the government does not have the
right to "discriminate (and limit) people's freedom to hold any
beliefs".
Soetandyo said that unless the government exercised caution
and wisdom in the matter, it would find itself in a difficult
position to answer to international criticism.
Abdurrahman said the government would also encounter "a crisis
of legitimacy" if it continued applying a "double-standard" in
viewing the relation between religions and the state.
"The government has often said it recognized only the five
religions. Many other times, however, it also said that it would
never interfere in religions' internal affairs," Abdurrahman
said.
Separately, Lanny and Budi's lawyer, Trimoelja D. Soerjadi,
said yesterday that the 1974 Law No. 1 on Marriage does not make
any reference to the government recognizing marriages conducted
only in the five recognized religions.
Indonesia's followers of Confucianism constitute 0.7 percent
(about 1,365,000) of the country's 195 million people. (15/31)