Religious leaders criticize govt for shifting holiday dates

Bambang Nurbianto and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Yogyakarta

The Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) and Indonesian Bishops' Conference (KWI) on Wednesday criticized the government's decision to move a number of religious holidays to other dates in order to give longer weekends.

Brother Heri Sumarjo, head of the education section of the KWI, stressed that the dates of religious holidays in the Roman Catholic Church could not be shifted for any reason as they were based on religious dogma and doctrine.

"The KWI's stance is clear: we cannot accept the shifting of religious holidays because the religious teachings and values of the church cannot not be boiled down into worldly considerations," Heri told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said the KWI had sent at least two official letters to complain about the shifting of the Ascension Thursday holiday from Thursday, May 29, to Friday, May 30. "With the government's recent decision, we may have to have two holidays to celebrate this religious event," he added.

A recent statement made by the Office of the State Minister for Administrative Reform said that holidays falling in the middle of the week would either be moved to Monday or Friday so as to give three-day weekends.

With the longer holidays, the government hopes to encourage people to go on vacation and thus help the beleaguered tourist industry.

Separately, MUI chairman Amidhan said there were two different points that needed to be considered in connection with religious holidays.

First, there was the fact that a religious holiday marked a particular religious event and, second, there was a holiday in the sense that people were excused from work.

"If we refer to the first sense of the word holiday, it cannot be shifted to another day, but if it is related to time off, certain holidays can be shifted," he explained.

Amidhan criticized the government's new policy, which he said was only based on economic considerations rather than religious factors.

"It seems like the government is not serious as such an important policy has been made without being fully thought out. I don't think the policy will be effective," he told the Post.

Despite the government's decision on shifting the dates of holidays, the royal family in Yogyakarta would stick consistently to the calendar for the celebration of the Islamic New year next Tuesday.

"The palace calendar says it falls on March 4. And that is in fact exactly when Suro 1 (new year according to the Javanese Calendar) falls. So, we will stick with it. There has so far been no instruction from Ngarso Dalem (the sultan) to shift the date to March 3 from March 4," Roepotolo, head of the palace's security unit, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Roepotolo also said that the palace had planned no special celebrations or events to celebrate the Javanese/Islamic new year. However, he said the people of Yogyakarta usually staged the laku bisu ceremony, in which they walked around the palace in the middle of the night in silence.