NU takes issue with religious harmony bill
JAKARTA (JP): Supporters of a bill promoting religious harmony have suffered another setback after the country's largest Muslim organization dismissed it as a wasteful exercise because true harmony could not be mandated.
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) secretary-general Muhyiddin Arubusman told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that the positive impact of such a bill would be limited because interfaith harmony depended on people's own maturity to accept religious differences.
Muhyiddin said the immediate impact of the bill would be greater upheaval in sectarian relations.
"I don't think that it (a law on religious harmony) is necessary," he said, adding it would only "complicate the situation further".
Due to increased religious conflicts in recent years, legislators have toyed with the idea of introducing a bill to foster religious harmony, particularly by regulating proselytizing and the use of religious symbols.
Muhyiddin argued there were already too many regulations and one more would not help curb increased tension and conflicts.
He said a strict law would be of no value in helping educate the people to accept differences and practice restraint when confronting religious disharmony.
"The general public will not grow up and develop themselves if we start to regulate things like this," Muhyiddin said.
"Besides, we forget that all of these conflicts actually occurred because the state took too much control of the people."
Muhyiddin's remarks have stirred up the already heated debate about the proposal.
In a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) in March, only the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) backed the need for the bill.
It maintained that religious discord was a fact of everyday life and there should be a code of ethics among the faithful, which included refraining from proselytizing to adherents to other faiths.
The Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) and Bishop's Conference of Indonesia (KWI) have strongly rejected the idea, while the Indonesian Buddhist Community (Walubi) and Indonesian Central Council for Dharma Hinduism (PHDI) have said they are willing to discuss the possibility of such a bill.
Catholic priest Mudji Sutrisno said on Saturday that the bill would degrade the value of religion by making it part of the legal system and that religious harmony was a personal issue.
"Religious harmony could happen only with the sincerity of the believers to respect diversity. It is a personal decision that goes beyond any legal regulation," Mudji told journalists.
To resolve conflicts between the faithful, Mudji said the people should first resolve hostilities from the past.(dja)