Joint religious office must be independent: Scholars

Joint religious office must be independent: Scholars

Muhammad Nafik, Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Scholars from different faiths gave backing on Wednesday for a
call to establish a joint office to promote religious harmony
across the country, but stressed that it must be independent and
credible.

They warned that such a joint religious secretariat would
become ineffective once it allowed the government to intervene
and accommodated only government-recognized religions.

"The proposal is good as long as such an office is initiated
and undertaken by the people, not the government," Azyumardi
Azra, rector of Jakarta's State Islamic University (UIN), told
The Jakarta Post.

He argued that similar bodies had been set up during former
president Soeharto's authoritarian regime of 32 years but proved
useless as they were under government control.

"If the proposed secretariat is formed by the government, it
will be ungenuine and formal so that people are reluctant to
freely express their grievances," Azyumardi added.

Another Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla shared a similar
opinion, saying a possible structural relation between the joint
office and the Ministry of Religious Affairs should be avoided to
ensure its independence and credibility.

He said the proposed secretariat was possibly not enough and
that its status could be upgraded as a joint commission for
different religions similar to the National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM).

"It should serve as a clearing house that will intensify
coordination and communications among religious leaders and
followers, particularly in cases of conflict," said Ulil, who is
a project coordinator with the Indonesian Conference on Religion
and Peace (ICRP).

He said the proposed joint secretariat should also play a role
as a pressure group advocating campaigns against discriminatory
policies on interfaith.

The policies may include a decree jointly issued in 1969 by
the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Home
Affairs, which bans interfaith proselytizing.

The decree requires the construction of houses of worship (not
excluding mosques as reported by the Post on Wednesday) to obtain
permission from the local government and residents.

On Tuesday Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu leaders
together with the House of Representatives agreed on the need to
set up a joint office in Jakarta and regional levels.

They said the secretariat was aimed at helping restore the
relationship between religious adherents, which has been
tarnished by sectarian conflicts in several parts of the country.

The initiators hoped the government would facilitate the move
by helping cover its operational costs.

But Johannes Hariyanto, a deputy chairman of the ICRP, opposed
the establishment of any joint religious institution should it be
linked structurally with the government.

"Formalizing a religious body will only make it bureaucratic
and this will pose a new burden on us and will thus be
unacceptable to the people," he said.

Trisno S. Sutanto, coordinator of the Dialog for the Inter-
Religious Society (Madia) program belonging to the Indonesian
Bishops Conference (KWI), concurred, saying the secretariat
should completely be independent and should serve as an umbrella
for all religious organizations.

"If the government is allowed to join, that the proposed body
is feared to exclude unrecognized religions, such as Confucianism
and Taoism," he said.