T

he incoming government has to pay more attention to citizenship education as well as carry out structural changes in the Religious Affairs Ministry to control radicalism and promote tolerance, experts say.

Rights activist Siti Musdah Mulia of the Indonesian Conference of Religions and Peace said on Friday that to prevent religious radicalism, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from spreading in Indonesia, the new government should consider strengthening citizenship education at a basic education level.

While researching at several schools in Indonesia, Musdah found that rigid religious teachings '€œnot in accordance with the Constitution,'€ such as ISIL doctrine, existed in schools.

She said that one of the religion textbooks at a school stressed the importance of establishing a caliphate '€” an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader '€” exactly as taught by the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI).

ISIL and HTI are known for using violence to achieve their aim, which is to build an Islamic state.

Musdah said that with such practices, school children were being taught the radical ideas in a structured and systematic way, often going unnoticed by their parents or the government itself.

'€œIn the future, religious education in Indonesia should be built in line with the citizenship principals,'€ she said during a national seminar in Jakarta.

The head of the Religious Affairs Ministry'€™s research and development division, Muhammad Machasin, said that the new government should pay more attention to citizenship education to prevent such radicalism.

'€œIndonesians have lost their wisdom,'€ Machasin said.

Muhammadiyah secretary Abdul Mu'€™ti added that the new government should consider implementing what he called '€œsoft pluralism'€ '€” the development of a tolerant mindset '€” toward Indonesians.

He said that to date, the government had failed to implement such practices. For example, in the development of a housing compound, the government did not do anything to develop social integration among religious affiliations in the compound.

'€œOur citizenship system should be inclusive,'€ Abdul said, adding that the ministries, including the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Education and Culture Ministry, had to cooperate to make it happen.

Setara Institute vice chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos said that aside from education, structural reform in the Religious Affairs Ministry was also important to promoting tolerance among Indonesians.

He said that the directorate generals in the Religious Affairs Ministry should not be classified based on religions but based on their functions. '€œThe Religious Affairs Minister must be able to provide the same service for every religious group,'€ he said. (ask)