Minister of Religion: Christmas and Lunar New Year Celebrations Prove Indonesia's Religious Harmony Reaches Peak
Indonesia’s Minister of Religion Nasaruddin Umar attended the peak celebration of the 2026 Lunar New Year Festival on Saturday evening, 28 February 2026. He praised the successful execution of the entire Lunar New Year Festival 2026 programme.
“This is the first Lunar New Year in Indonesian history where such an extraordinary coalition has occurred,” he stated at Banteng Field in Central Jakarta.
At the event titled ‘Nusantara Lunar New Year Harmony’, Nasaruddin highlighted the remarkable unity achieved during the Red and White Cabinet era. He commended how major religious celebrations, ranging from Christmas to Lunar New Year, have been jointly organised with great festivity.
“Yesterday we celebrated Christmas together, and today we are also celebrating Lunar New Year together,” he added.
He noted that based on interfaith harmony index data, Indonesia has recorded positive figures. He assessed that this reality demonstrates the increasingly solid unity of Indonesia as a pluralistic nation.
“This year, 2025, is also noted in the index as the year when Indonesia’s religious harmony reached its peak throughout the nation’s history,” he continued.
According to him, this year’s Lunar New Year celebration carries profound meaning as it coincides with the holy month of Ramadan. He described this moment as a symbol of Indonesia’s true face—diverse yet harmonious.
“The glowing red Lunar New Year lanterns and various cultural fusion performances today symbolise beautifully how these two great traditions, Lunar New Year and Ramadan, can complement each other,” he stated.
Furthermore, he emphasised that Lunar New Year is not merely a religious ritual of Confucian believers or a tradition of the Chinese community alone. Rather, it has become a national cultural asset and a tool for cultural diplomacy on the global stage.
“This festival serves as a space for cross-cultural, cross-religious, and cross-generational encounter. Here we see that diversity is not a divider, but a force that unites us,” he said.
Through the Lunar New Year celebration, Nasaruddin hoped to further strengthen brotherhood and togetherness amidst diversity, whilst preserving noble cultural values as part of the nation’s identity.
“Fostering a spirit of tolerance, mutual respect, and mutual aid. And serving as an educational platform for young people to understand and cherish Nusantara’s culture,” he added.
Nasaruddin hopes that the Lunar New Year can bring peace and distance the nation from conflict, whilst becoming an opportunity to strengthen social justice and eradicate poverty.
“May our fasting be accepted and may our Lunar New Year be full of blessings. We are invited not only to celebrate, but also to reflect on how far we have spread goodness and maintained harmony in our collective life,” he concluded.