Arghea Desafti Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 06/22/2010 9:26 AM
Pro-pluralism activists demanded Monday that the information minister make a public apology for comparing a sex tape controversy to an ancient debate surrounding the death of Jesus Christ.
Noted pluralist figures gathered in a news conference on Monday, urging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take firm action against Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring.
“Every state official has to have dignity, conscience and morality. If [Tifatul] doesn’t, the President needs to take firm action against him, not only by reprimanding him but by removing him from his post,” said noted lawyer and rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis, who also spoke at the conference hosted by the Wahid Institute.
“A minister [must] never make a statement that degrades [a religion], he needs to apologize. The [sex tapes controversy] is a private matter. Even though there may be a legal matter in it … it is none of Tifatul’s business,” he said.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha told The Jakarta Post that the President had yet to make a comment on the matter.
Tifatul made the statement last week in a breakfast meeting at his office. He said that the public debate over sex tapes featuring people resembling singer Nazril “Ariel” Irham and models Luna Maya and Cut Tari was similar to a debate between Christians and Muslims on the death of Jesus. Muslims believe that someone resembling Jesus was crucified, and Christians believe that it was Jesus Christ himself who was crucified.
The minister said that it was important to confirm the identity of the people in the videos to avoid further negative reaction.
After days of enduring criticism on his Twitter account, Tifatul on Sunday posted a clarification on his facebook page. He said that his statement constituted historical fact and was “just neutral”.
“Without being pretentious, I said in the forum that there was a lesson in history that we all know about… this issue of resemblance has turned out to have long-lasting implications,” he said, adding that he had no intention to interrelate the sex video scandal with the theological matter.
Muslim scholar Ahmad Syafii Maarif said state officials should be extra careful in choosing their words, especially when they made statements on sensitive matters.
The minister’s statement, he added, “went too far and would not make the circumstances better”.
Wahid Institute director Yenny Zannuba Wahid said Monday that Tifatul’s statement “can have a dangerous impact”.
“The comment was tendentious and unwise. It can mislead the public. Such a statement can be used on the grass-roots level and quoted repeatedly. Thus, it has the potential to create tension and even spark clashes between religions in the country,” she added.
A Catholic priest from the Indonesian Bishops Council, Father Beni Susetyo, said the minister’s statement did not reflect his statesmanship.
Tifatul, who previously headed the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), later wrote on his Facebook page that he “apologize for the inconvenience”. He maintained that there was no intended insult in his analogy.
His statement came on the heels of his party’s announcement to embrace pluralism and be more inclusive in a bid to win the votes of Muslims who tended to support nationalist parties.
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Letter to the editor: Statement from
communications and information technology minister
| Wed, 06/23/2010 10:04 AM | Opinion
I would like to convey my reply to the headline published in The
Jakarta Post on June 22, that I did not make a statement that degraded a
religion.
On the morning of Thursday, June 17, a meeting was held
at the Communications and Information Technology Ministry, attended by
Press Council chairman Bagir Manan, Police Criminal Detective Agency
deputy chief Dikdik Mulyana Arif Mansyur, Ramli from the Justice and
Human Rights Ministry and a representative of the Women’s Empowerment
and Child Protection Ministry, for the purpose of appealing that
Internet service providers minimize the spread of pornography on the
Internet.
At the meeting I requested the police promptly conduct a
thorough investigation of the pornographic video case so that news on
people resembling each other in this case be clarified.
In this
way, the public would no longer be confused. Without clear explanation,
this issue will remain unresolved. And unless this story of resemblance
is clarified on the basis of investigation by law enforcers, it will
exhaust public energy while other no less important problems have yet to
be given due attention by the whole nation.
In connection with
such “resemblance”, without any pretension I mentioned to the forum a
lesson from history, which has also become common knowledge, that
Muslims are convinced Prophet Isa was not crucified, but it was a man
resembling Prophet Isa who was crucified. Meanwhile, Christians are
convinced that Jesus was crucified. Without any intention to involve the
aspect of theology, I mentioned that this issue of resemblance had a
long presence in history.
My statement is a historical fact, which
is neutral and true. I have never linked the pornographic video case to
the two religious figures.
Later, Rakyat Merdeka Online on June
17 posted an intriguing article titled “Eager to unveil Ariel, Tifatul
implicates Prophet Isa and Jesus”, written by Zul Hidayat Siregar. But
the article contained incomplete substance of my explanation at the
meeting. Controversy intensified further following a public debate that
was only based on the title of the article, without delving into its
substance, with ample chance of giving rise to misunderstanding in
society.
I thank you for your understanding and apologize for any
inconvenience. This will hopefully serve as a valuable lesson for all
parties, including myself.
Tifatul Sembiring
Jakarta
