Govt urged to drop bill on education

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has called on the government to drop the controversial education bill, warning democracy and the country would suffer unless the state and religion were separated.

"The government should not go ahead with the controversial bill because it will certainly spark strong opposition from both Muslim and non-Muslim groups.

"The state should avoid interfering in religious matters. Religious education must be handled by families and religious institutions. In accordance with the amended Constitution, there must be a clear-cut separation between state and religion," he told The Jakarta Post after a meeting with religious figures in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The bill, scheduled to replace legislation enacted in 1989, has sparked strong opposition from numerous quarters, particularly those opposed to Article 13 of the bill.

It stipulates that all students must take religious classes, requiring Muslim and non-Muslim schools to recruit special teachers and provide places of worship.

Gus Dur, the former chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, said the House should focus on education and remove the article.

"Those who want to study religion should go to special institutes or academies where they can study, research and practice their faith freely."

He said he suspected the article was included in the draft bill after pressure from religious groups seeking to impose their religion on others.

Gus Dur conceded that current education laws were inadequate, saying thee government still interfered in religious matters and had failed to formulate a standard education system.

He said many people were still unaware the constitution guaranteed religious freedom.

"We will regress unless the bill is dropped. We should stick to the agreement reached by our founding fathers on this issue ... The founding fathers agreed to ... declare that Indonesia is not a theocratical state."

On Tuesday, about 2000 teachers from Concerned People for National Education rallied outside the House of Representatives to urge legislators debating the bill to focus on improving education, not religion.

The house used it initiative right to draft the bill, set to be discussed by a House working committee today (Thursday).

Separately, Rev. I. Ismartono, spokesman for The Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), concurred and said schools should be seen as education institutions which focus on teaching normal education subjects.

"We have religious institutions where religious matters and issues are studied further. If schools are used to develop faith and religious devotion, there will be no more institutions earmarked to develop intelligence," he said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.

He said the fact that students had a right to religious education did not mean that schools were obliged to provide facilities to implement it.

Mochtar Buchori, an education expert who is also a member of House Commission VI for education, has said the national education system should focus more on education rather than strengthening beliefs.

He said the passage of the bill, scheduled to be passed on May 2, was flexible.