Parents, fostered children must be same religion
Parents, fostered children must be same religion
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives delayed on Thursday the endorsement
of the Child Protection bill because it needs more time to
accommodate criticisms and opinions submitted by a number of
different groups.
A team assigned to deliberate the bill will continue its
discussions at the next session of the House, scheduled to take
place from Aug. 16 to Sept. 27.
A member of the team, legislator Ida Fauziah, confirmed the
delay was the result of a protest by the Indonesian Ulemas
Council (MUI).
Ida, who is from the National Awakening Party (PKB), said MUI
officials urged the legislators to revise Article 37, Paragraph
3, of the bill, which stipulates that adopted parents "should be
of the same religion as the adopted child".
The MUI objected to the phrase "should be", which it said was
not recognized by legal principles.
"That terminology is up to interpretation. The word 'must' is
much clearer than 'should be,'" MUI chairman Amidhan told The
Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Amidhan emphasized that if the Child Protection bill was
written in language that was not clear, it could result in
children losing their religions.
He added that the use of "should be" was also inconsistent
with the language in other articles.
Article 31, Paragraph 4, for example, states that individuals
that adopt a child must be of the same faith as the child.
Article 33, Paragraph 3, stipulates that a guardian appointed
by the courts must be of the same religion as the child.
Amidhan, who was recently appointed by the House to the
National Commission on Human Rights, said the law should prevent
parents from adopting children of a different faith.
"If there is no protection under the law, foster children will
be helpless to maintain their religion," he said.
Amidhan appreciated the legislators for giving serious
attention to the inputs from MUI.
The legislators had earlier defended the disputed article,
saying it gave room to donors of the National Movement of Foster
Parents, founded by a daughter-in-law of former president
Soeharto, to continue their work without fear of mandatory
religious conversion.
But Amidhan told the legislators to differentiate between
donation, guardianship and fostering.
"If it is about donations, there is no need for donors to be
of the same faith as those receiving the donations," Amidhan
said.
Besides the MUI, a number of other groups have also criticized
the bill. These critics say the bill drafted by the legislators
lacks details, contains vague articles and fails to recognize a
watchdog committee.
Bambang Budi Setiawan of the Indonesian Child Welfare
Foundation and Aris Merdeka Sirait of the National Committee for
the Protection of Children, said that in the late 1990s some NGOs
submitted draft bills on child protection that were much more
comprehensive, feasible and reliable than the current bill.
"We create laws for the people. If the people reject a law, it
would be better for the House to respond in a positive manner,"
Ida told the Post on Thursday.
Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on Child Protection in
1990. But it was only in 2001 that legislators began deliberating
the Child Protection bill.
Some of the rights of children:
- To live a normal life
- To be protected against all forms of violence and
discrimination, exploitation, legal action and prosecution
- To develop their identities and receive citizenship
- To enjoy religious freedom according to their beliefs, and
freedom of expression under their parents' guidance
- To be informed of the identity of their biological parents in
the case of adopted children