Taking a look at the ministry of religion

Taking a look at the ministry of religion

Aleksius Jemadu, Bandung

Currently the Ministry of Religious Affairs has become a focus
of public attention. Former minister Said Agil Hussein Al-
Munawar, and former director general for Islamic guidance and haj
management, Taufik Kamil, are accused of misappropriating
billions of rupiah which is supposed to be used only for the
benefit of the people. It is often said that corruption within
the Ministry of Religious Affairs especially with regard to the
management of haj funds is rampant and systemic.

So far the existence of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in
the government structure has always been justified by a
questionable myth that the state has a supreme moral authority in
guiding people's religious life.

While there is no doubt about the importance of the role of
the Ministry of Religious Affairs in a multiethnic society like
Indonesia, the scandals under investigation have damaged its
moral authority in the eyes of the public.

It is true that the embezzlement of public money occurs in
other ministries too, but because of its unique position in our
society people are particularly alarmed by the moral degradation
at the ministry. Thus, it is perfectly reasonable if the public
set higher moral standards to evaluate its performance.

The disclosure of corruption cases within government
bureaucracies over the last few weeks is just a small part of an
extensive and deep-rooted corruption network in our country.
Thus, what happens to the Ministry of Religious Affairs is a
reflection of the general condition of our society. There is an
inconceivable contradiction between the progress in people's
formal religious life on the one hand and acute moral
deterioration on the other.

We have seen that since the 1980s visitors to the houses of
worship of various religions have been on the rise. But at the
same time organized religion has tended to become an end in
itself with the effect that distortions of various forms in
religious practice continue to take place.

The implication of the shallowness of our religious life is
quite evident in society. People tend to extol success over
contentment, domination over compassion, and quick fixes over
life-long commitment. Religious belief as one's source of values
and inspiration is supposed to give more priority to the building
of internal character rather than external appearance.

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has done
almost nothing in giving the public some sort of moral guidance
so that they may have a truthful understanding of how to become
a religious being while at the same time acting as a responsible
citizen.

So far, several directorates general for the guidance of
people of different religions have functioned only to accomplish
state interests in society. The promotion of religious life is
left to the religious organizations themselves.

Despite its weakening legitimacy, we still hope that the
ministry continues to play a positive role in society in order to
ensure the perpetuation of Indonesia's tradition of tolerance and
harmony among people of different religious beliefs. If the
government is serious about its public guidance of religious life
in Indonesia, there are three types of intelligence that the
Indonesian people badly need today.

First, the government should facilitate the promotion of
spiritual intelligence as the actualization of the first
principle in our state ideology Pancasila. Being spiritually
intelligent means that we honor God Almighty in all our ways and
acknowledge Him in our everyday conduct.

Second, the Indonesian people have to develop emotional
intelligence in the sense that we are capable of controlling our
emotions especially when it comes to our reaction toward
sensitive religious issues in society. Last but not least, we all
need to equip ourselves with social intelligence or our ability
to live together despite our fundamental differences in terms of
religion and ethnicity.

If, together with the organized religions, the Ministry of
Religious Affairs could accomplish this task in our society, then
we would have good reason to be hopeful that the slogan "unity in
diversity" is not just an empty slogan.

The writer is head of the Department of International
Relations at Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung. He can be
reached at aleks@home.unpar.ac.id.