JP/4/sisdik

JP/4/sisdik

'Education bill is a time bomb'

Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Public demands for a revision of the education bill have been
increasing with a call for the House of Representatives to delay
its endorsement in order to avert a major rift in society.

Rev. I. Ismartono, spokesman of the Bishops Conference of
Indonesia (KWI), Solahuddin Wahid of the largest Muslim
organization Nadhlatul Ulama, education observer Muchtar Buchori
agreed that the current bill on education had too many flaws.

"It's a time bomb (for the country) that could explode some
time in the future," Muchtar said on Sunday.

The bill's substance had focused too much on religious matters
in a bid to curb increasing immorality in the country, he said,
while adding that such a move was wrong, as the current
immorality was a result of the country's bad political system.

He said that morality education would be fruitful if four
factors were met -- knowing what moral values are, understanding
them, having commitment and implementing them in our lives.

"But, if even one of these factors is omitted, we will create
a seed of hypocrisy," he said.

Muchtar, also a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), called on all parties to sit
together to talk about the ideal guidelines for the education
system to develop the nation rather than politicizing education.

The most controversial issue in the bill is Article 13, which
stipulates that all students have the right to take religious
classes from their own religion regardless if a particular school
is Christian, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. All religion-based
schools therefore would have to hire special teachers to give
religious instruction to students who were, for example Buddhists
at a private Hindu school, and also to provide special places of
worship for each religion represented within its student body.

The bill specifies that a school would be required to provide
religious teachers if students from one religion numbered more
than ten.

Meanwhile, Ismartono said if the House pressed ahead with the
endorsement of the education bill in May, the bill would reflect
an arbitrary process of dominant political parties.

"This bill has put the future of our children at risk and
could disrupt the nation's unity. It would not be proper if it
were endorsed," he said.

He also said the bill would force private schools to
discriminate against students based on their religion.

For example, if the bill is passed, many Catholic schools,
which often have many Muslim students, would be forced to limit
the number of Muslim students to below ten to avoid the
obligation of providing Muslim teachers and special facilities,
Ismartono said.

"It's better if the schools and parents talk about how to
provide religious teaching rather than to make such a contentious
law," he said.

Solahuddin said that the House should listen to the many
voices who say that the bill had lost its focus on education and
given more attention to religious education.

"The friction in society has been very high because of the
education bill. So the House should not force it through. Why
should we endorse the bill if it is not applicable?" he asked.