Gov’t to Provide Indigenous Faiths Column on ID Card

By Office of Assistant to Deputy Cabinet Secretary for State Documents & Translation     Date 4 April 2018
Category: News
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Lukman Hakim Saifuddin delivers his statement after Limited Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (4/4). (Photo by: Jay/Public Relations)

Lukman Hakim Saifuddin delivers his statement after Limited Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (4/4). (Photo by: Jay/Public Relations)

The Indonesian Government confirms that the decision to implement the Constitutional Court (MK) decision related to the inclusion of indigenous faiths in the Electronic Identity Card (e-KTP) has been communicated to religious leaders, religious council leaders, indigenous faith-based organizations, and a number of related parties.

Therefore, according to Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, the Limited Meeting held on Wednesday (4/4) has decided that the Ministry of Home Affairs in the near future will prepare e-KTP for indigenous faiths followers.

“So, within 1-2 months Ministry of Home Affairs collects data of indigenous faith followers. The data includes the followers’ domicile, the exact number of them, and their location,” Lukman told the press after the Limited Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Wednesday (4/4).

Later, Lukman continued, it is expected that after Regional Election (Pilkada) takes place, the distribution of e-KTP for indigenous faiths followers will be carried out. It has been agreed that there will be a column of indigenous faith in e-KTP for these followers.

“Just like regular e-KTP. There are columns for name, address, etc. What makes it different is the religion column is replaced with a column for indigenous faiths, that’s all,” said Lukman while asserting related to this issue, Ministry of Religious Affairs has held coordination meetings several times, has consulted with Ministry of Home Affairs and has communicated intensively with a number of interfaith communication forums representing a number of religious councils.

Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Tjahjo Kumolo on a separate occasion reemphasized President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s directives in a Limited Cabinet Meeting that the Constitutional Court’s decision regarding indigenous faiths is final and binding and must be followed up immediately.

For those who do not have an e-KTP, data recording for indigenous faiths followers will be conducted after the Regional Election, considering that the majority of them already have an e-KTP.

Meanwhile, according to the Minister of Home Affairs, related to the indigenous faith column, the format of the e-KTP is the same, but the column for religion and indigenous faith provided separately.

“The format is not religion/faith; the columns for religion and indigenous faith are separated,” Tjahjo said.

The Directorate General of Population and Civil Registry, according to Minister Tjahjo, will immediately implement the decision of the Constitutional Court.

For the record, Indonesia’s population is 261,142,385 people. There are 138,791 people who become indigenous faith followers. “They join in 187 organizations located in 13 provinces. Based on Ministry of Education and Culture’s data, 160 organizations are active while the rest are inactive,” Tjahjo said. (FID/JAY/ES) (GWH/MMB/Naster)

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