Religious leaders criticize govt for shifting holiday dates

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.