Lawyers seek review of religious decree

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A group of lawyers is set to petition the Supreme Court to review a 1969 ministerial decree on houses of worship, saying the law gave Muslim hard-liners the excuse to forcibly close down churches in the country.

The group, which is led by barrister O.C. Kaligis, argues that the decree was discriminatory and threatened the harmony of religious life in the country.

The ruling infringed on the Constitutional right of Indonesian citizens to carry out religious activities, the lawyers said in a statement on Saturday.

The controversial decree, signed in 1969 by the religious minister Moh. Dahlan and home minister Amir Machmud, stipulates that people wanting to set up houses of worship must first obtain a permit from their local administration and approval from local residents.

However, gaining such permission is often difficult for Christians in what is a predominantly Muslim country.

The lawyers asked the Supreme Court to order the President to withdraw the decree, which had been used by some hard-liners as an excuse for them to take the law into their own hands and forcibly closed down Christian places of worship without a license.

The government has promised to review the decree.

But in Central Java town of Solo, dozens of members of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) took to the street on Saturday to express their support for the decree.

A similar protest also occurred in Bandung, by the Anti- Apostasy Movement Alliance (AGAP), the same group which led the closure of Christian houses of worship in Bandung, West Java.

Separately, the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Amidhan said that there was need to withdraw the decree.

"It is quite ideal. A revision, if it has to, could only be done to detail each articles to prevent misinterpretation," he said on Saturday.