Commission VIII Of The House Of Representatives Rejects BNPT's Proposal Regarding The Government's Full Control Of Houses Of Worship

Illustration of residents entering the mosque. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives Ace Hasan Syadzily rejected the proposal of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) for the government to control all places of worship in Indonesia to prevent radicalism. "I strongly oppose state control of all houses of worship in Indonesia. Because it violates the principles of freedom of religion and belief," Ace told reporters, Tuesday, September 5.

According to him, there are other ways with different approaches to erode or eliminate radicalism caused by religious understanding.

"If religious understanding has the potential to lead to acts of terrorism, there should be preventive measures through dialogue and coaching mechanisms," he continued.

The West Java electoral district Golkar legislator considered the proposal excessive because such policies were like the colonial era. Ace assessed that there was nothing to worry about if houses of worship were used as places to criticize the government.

"It's like an colonial era, all houses of worship are controlled by the government. I think it's excessive if places of worship are controlled by the government or government officials," said Ace. "If there are one or two cases where houses of worship are suspected of being used to criticize the government, there is no need to worry. Criticism does not have to be interpreted as an act of radicalism," he added.

The chairman of the Golkar DPP said that if the house of worship is fully controlled by the government or state, it violates the spirit of religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution. "In addition, the state's control over religious life is too strong, it has the potential for the state to impose too much intervention and intervention in the private sphere of religion," he said.

Therefore, Ace reminded BNPT to detect potential religious understanding that allows violence, rather than asking the government to control houses of worship.

"The most important thing for institutions such as BNPT is to detect potential religious understanding to justify violence and act detrimental to others and social order. Whatever their religion," he concluded. Previously, BNPT proposed that all places of worship be controlled by the government so as not to become a place for radicalism to develop. This proposal was conveyed by the Head of BNPT, Rycko Amelza Dahniel, in a meeting with Commission III of the DPR, Monday, September 4.

Rycko explained that there needs to be a control mechanism for the use and abuse of places of worship used to spread radicalism. He said BNPT had conducted comparative studies in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, as well as to remote countries, namely in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco.

"(In those countries) all mosques, places of worship, inside officers who provide tausiyah, give sermons, provide material, including their content under government control," explained Rycko.

For this reason, Rycko suggested that there be a similar control mechanism in Indonesia. Not only for mosques, but also for all places of worship of any religion in Indonesia.

"We need to have a mechanism to control all places of worship, not just mosques, but all places of worship. Anyone who can provide, convey content there, including controlling content rather than content so that our places of worship are not used as a tool to spread the teachings of violence, teachings of hatred, blaspheme groups, leaders, and even blaspheme the government," he said.