Green campaign comes under the cloth

By Riyadi

JAKARTA (JP): After helping with the government's family planning campaign, religious leaders are being asked to join in another crusade -- the campaign to preserve the environment.

Protecting the environment is a religious obligation whether one is a Moslem, Christian, Roman Catholic, Hindu or Buddhist, Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher said during a meeting with leaders of the five religions last Saturday.

"All the major religions that exist in Indonesia teach their followers to live in harmony with the environment ... and not to destroy it," Tarmizi said at a seminar on "Environment in the Perspective of Religion" at his office.

The meeting was organized by the Forum for Religion and the Environment, which includes leaders from the five recognized religions in Indonesia.

Tarmizi said the government has launched a series of programs to preserve the environment, ranging from a river cleaning campaign to the introduction of waste management concepts.

Much of the success of these programs, however, depends on the people and very often this is where the problem lies, he said.

This is where religion, and religious leaders, are expected to play their part in bringing people to accept and realize that preserving the environment is a religious duty, he added.

Given the influence that religious leaders have on the people's daily activities, the government has counted on their assistance in many of its programs.

This was most notable in the family planning campaign, which government officials admit would not have been successful without a push from religious leaders.

Now that the call to preserve the environment is reaching a higher pitch, religious leaders have been summoned to once again to exercise their influence.

All religions

All the five religions were represented at the seminar and addressed the forum. There was M. Yunan Yusuf (Islam), Alfons S. Suhardi (Roman Catholic), Victor I. Tanja (Protestant), Ida Bagus Rai Wardhana (Hindu) and Corneles Wowor (Buddhism).

The speakers concurred that religion can play a major role in the environmental drive and given that all faiths inculcate the need to live in harmony with the environment, it follows that the more pious people are, the more conscious they should be of their obligations towards their surroundings.

The Director of Hindu Affairs in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Ida Bagus Rai Wardhana, said Hindu's concern over environment is apparent from its three main religious rituals: Tumpek Wuduh (the planting ceremony) Tumpek Kandang (an animal ceremony) and a ceremony on preserving the universe.

These ceremonies inculcate Buddhists with a belief in peace with the environment as well as with other human beings and with God.

Yunan Yusuf said Islam sees human being as God's viceroys on earth, and that they are responsible for its goodness.

He proposed several campaigns which religious leaders and institutions can promote, including leading a less consumptive life style, promoting environmental ethics, promoting controls on industrial waste and promoting environmental activities among Moslem youngsters called tadabbur alam (reflections on the universe).

Yusuf also suggested that Moslem preachers include environmental messages in their sermons during Friday prayer.

Alfons S. Suhardi however stressed that the core of environmental problems in Indonesia had to do with mass poverty.

He said collusion between industrialists and bureaucrats has made these problems even worse.

"Now if religious leaders are also involved in the conspiracy, then there is only one solution: the world needs to be washed by another of Noah's floods," he remarked.

Victor I. Tanja acknowledged that capitalism, which was born through protestantism, is partly responsible for the decline of the world's environment condition.

"But capitalism is like a naughty son who deviates from the whole family," Victor said.

Victor said the World Church Council has issued a general theme for all countries: justice, peace and integrity of creation and these encompass environmental preservation.

Corneles Wowor shared Victor's opinion that to preserve the environment is almost the same as to preserve justice.

"That's why Buddha said those who cultivate lands should get the seeds, those who do business should get the capital and those who work should get the wages," Wowor said.