Ministry Of Religion Needs A Map Of Religious Problems In Today's History, September 18, 2014

Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, who served as Ministry of Religion from 2014-2019. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA History today, 11 years ago, September 18, 2014, Minister of Religion (Menag), Lukman Hakim Saifuddin emphasized the importance of the Ministry of Religion having a map of people's problems. He considered the map as an example to preserve peace between religious communities.

Previously, religious conflicts began to often be heard. Starting from the destruction of houses of worship to the difficulty of building houses of worship other than Islam. The issue of religious protection outside the six official religions is also difficult to play.

National leaders often echo diversity as Indonesia's strength. Different ethnic groups to religions are not obstacles. This condition makes the government consider the presence of the Ministry of Religion important.

One of them is presented by the Ministry of Religion to maintain religious harmony. This condition has always been an important message conveyed from elementary school to college. However, the reality on the ground is often opposite.

Efforts to accept diversity are not easy. Many fanatics actually consider their own religion the highest and noble. Other religions are considered untrue. This condition led to religious conflicts. Take for example from the beginning of 2014.

Conflict with the destruction of places of worship is the most common thing. The fanatics often think that other religious matters should not be arbitrary. Moreover, when they build a new house of worship. The permit will be quite difficult.

They also did not want the house to be used as a place of worship as happened to the Pantekosta Church Congregation Council in Indonesia Pangukan, Sleman, Yogyakarta on June 1, 2014. Their house of worship was damaged.

Another issue of religious people who are no less vital is the protection of those who adhere to religions outside of official religions such as Ahmadiyah to Shiites. Ignorants are prone to discrimination. In fact, some of them were expelled from their own village, for example, Shiites in Sampang, Madura.

"The Sampang Shiite refugees have been expelled from their village for two years, from the Sampang Sports Center to the Jemundo Rusunawa, Sidoarjo," said the Coordinator of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Hertasning Ichlas as quoted by the ANTARA website, July 27, 2014.

A series of problems that occurred received special attention from Lukman Hakim Saifuddin. The Minister of Religion, who had just served from June 2014, did not want harmony between religious communities to be disrupted on September 18, 2014.

He considers the Ministry of Religion to need a map of people's problems. He considers the map of people's problems important in solving and solving religious problems. The map is a large provision for his staff at the Ministry of Religion to care for religious communities.

He also tried to develop a map of people's problems. The focus is on providing protection to religious communities outside of official religion. The minority needs to be defended. He will also bring the Ministry of Religion to facilitate the permit to establish a religious house. All these problems have been mapped out.

The map can then be useful in the future when he is no longer the Minister of Religion. The successor can read the map.

"That doesn't mean the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) doesn't have a problem map so far, but actual developments must be understood," Lukman said in a Focused Discussion (Focus Group Discussion / FGD) at the Mercury Sabang Hotel, Jakarta as quoted by the ANTARA website, September 18, 2014.