[ppi] [ppiindia] Ma'ruf has no plans to drop references to religion on IDs

** Mailing List|Milis Nasional Indonesia PPI-India **
** Situs resmi: http://www.ppi-india.org **
** Situs milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia **
** Informasi Beasiswa Scholarship: http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **
<br><br><a href="http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com";><img 
src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Info_Beasiswa.gif"; height="67" width="200" 
style="border:0" alt="Info Beasiswa Scholarship "/></a><br><br>
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060526.A02&irec=3

Ma'ruf has no plans to drop references to religion on IDs 


M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta



The government will maintain references to religions on identity cards for the 
time being, the home minister says.

"There has never been a plan to drop religions from ID cards," M. Ma'ruf told 
The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a House of Representatives hearing 
Thursday. 

Earlier this month, ministry secretary-general Progo Nurdjaman said that the 
government was considering dropping the reference to religions on ID cards 
after protests from numerous minority faiths. 

Progo said classing people by their religions was unnecessary and could be used 
by intolerant groups to incite sectarian violence. 

Opposition, however, quickly mounted against the proposal. 

In April, Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin told Antara the idea was 
preposterous. 

"In a secular country, a column for religions on ID cards is unnecessary, but 
we should not follow this standard. People here identify themselves by their 
religions," he said. 

Secularism is enshrined in the nation's Constitution. 

Din said injustice rather than religion caused most conflict in the country. 
The government should tackle poverty and injustice rather than remove religious 
references from state documents, he said. 

Stating one's religion is compulsory on ID cards along with details of one's 
date of birth, marital status and occupation. 

The problem is the state recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, 
Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. 

People of other faiths must choose one of the six if they want a valid ID card 
-- a move that human rights groups have long criticized as discriminatory. 

Chinese Confucians and Taoists used to suffer the most from the requirement, 
with many writing Buddhist or Christian in the religion column. 

Now, the Confucians are officially recognized -- in theory. One ID application 
form seen by The Jakarta Post included a six box marked "other" -- presumably 
where followers of Confucius could write their religion. 

But would these "other" religions be recognized by local officials? Many 
Confucians think not and continue to tick one of the five main faiths when they 
get a new card. 

However, according to Ma'ruf, a man in the East Java town of Malang applied 
successfully for an ID card as a Confucian. 

"It was the right decision as it was in line with the Constitution," he said. 

Swandy Sihotang of the non-governmental organization the Coalition for Civil 
Registrations said there was no good reason for the government to continue the 
identity card policy. 

"There are millions of people whose faiths are not recognized and have to 
pretend they believe in one of five recognized religions. The government should 
start paying attention to them," Swandy told the Post


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Get to your groups with one click. Know instantly when new email arrives
http://us.click.yahoo.com/.7bhrC/MGxNAA/yQLSAA/BRUplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg 
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:

1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi 
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Situs resmi: http://www.ppi-india.org ; 
Situs milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia ; 
Informasi Beasiswa Scholarship: http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>
<a href="http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com";><img 
src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Info_Beasiswa.gif"; height="67" width="200" 
style="border:0" alt="Info Beasiswa Scholarship "/></a><br>

Other related posts: