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refer to an article titled '€œShould we shift to secularism?'€ (The Jakarta Post, July 24) by Michael H. Hadylaya.

When the New Order finished, people were left without a state-sanctioned delusion of Indonesia'€™s flawless history. Of course people would revert to religion (moreover the cerebral safety of monotheistic religion) in order to divert their attention from the many crimes against humanity that laid the foundation of the 30 plus comfortable years of Soeharto.  

Now that those years are gone, fewer Muslims would say Selamat Natal (Merry Christmas) and I dare say that even minority Christians would think twice when engaging in another'€™s religious festival.  

This is what you get when you are blinded and then have the blindfolds taken off.

We have to assert secularism because religions in and of themselves are assertive by nature.  

A passive (hopeful) approach to solving the religious problems of the country will not achieve much '€” only as much as the original Pancasila doctrine did for the minority religions, only this
time it will be significantly more disappointing due to the era we are in.  

The only valid constitution is a godless constitution that can provide for all faiths.  To try to move a country forward in the way of the first principle of the Pancasila did is to court disaster.  Evidence already attests to this.  Compare the US constitution to Indonesia'€™s.  

Study it carefully and you will witness first hand exactly what is needed on a theoretical level for basic human rights irrespective of faith.  

This has been accomplished and can be replicated by any country lacking or devoid of nationalistic ego.

L Millar
Jakarta