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MUI stands behind minister over religious tolerance
The chairman of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), Din Syamsuddin, is echoing the Minister of Religious Affairsâ call for tolerance among religious communities during the upcoming fasting month
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he chairman of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), Din Syamsuddin, is echoing the Minister of Religious Affairs' call for tolerance among religious communities during the upcoming fasting month.
He said he did not believe that the minister had the intention of disregarding Muslim people by asking fasting people to respect other religious communities.
'I have already sought confirmation from him and that is not true. Since early on, I was not sure it is a statement from the minister,' he said at the Religious Affairs Ministry building on Tuesday.
He said that the minister has called for improvement in religious tolerance among communities during the fasting month.
He said nobody was expected to take the law into their own hands and use violence in the name of religion.
Din, also chairman of the second largest muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, said that there was no ruling that all restaurants and food stalls had to remain closed during the Ramadhan fasting month, but they had to reschedule their operation times in respect for Muslim people fasting.
'Muslim people need tolerance and want other religion adherents to respect those fasting, but those from other faiths also need to be respected. We could not ask people from other religions to fast,' he said as quoted by kompas.com.
The minister came under fire when he was reported to have asked Muslim people to respect all non-Muslims during the fasting month. (rms)(+++)
