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