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'People urged to avoid anarchic acts in resolving worship house disputes
Against anarchy: Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin calls on all Indonesian people to use legal methods to resolve worship house disputes instead of taking anarchic acts
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span class="inline inline-center">Against anarchy: Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin calls on all Indonesian people to use legal methods to resolve worship house disputes instead of taking anarchic acts. (kompas.com)'
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin has called on all Indonesian people to resolve conflicts over houses of worship through legal mechanisms based on Pancasila instead of by taking anarchic acts.
He asserted that Indonesia was a plural country and nation, which was based on law. Consequently, the building of every worship house must be based on existing laws and regulations. Any rejection against a plan to build a worship house must be conveyed in accordance with the law.
'I expect we all can act mature, adhere to the law and be wise in responding to different opinions about the existence of the worship houses,' the minister said as quoted by kompas.com in a press statement on Sunday.
Lukman regretted a church burning incident in Aceh Singkil regency on Tuesday. He urged local administrations, law enforcers, religious leaders and local figures to protect all society elements in the regency and give necessary support so that the existence of a worship house in the area could increase the quality of their religious life.
Lukman said that a worship house could function as a tool to increase religious understanding. He said the building of a worship house should be able to resolve social conflicts and disputes among society members.
'It's important to understand that conflicts will bring no advantage. It would be better for us to use our energy to develop and achieve our mutual progress,' said Lukman.
Meanwhile, tribunnews.com reported that the Aceh Singkil local administration had begun to repatriate refugees, who had fled from the church burning incident last week and took refuge in two main shelters, namely Sibagindar district in West Pakpak regency (North Sumatera) and Manduamas district (Central Tapanuli).
Aceh Singkil Regent Safriadi directly led a team, which picked up and returned refugees to their hometown on Friday, while deputy regent Dulmusrid led a team, which worked on Saturday.
'Accompanied by the picking up team, some of the refugees have returned home on Friday evening while some others would return back on Saturday, voluntarily. ['¦] If they refuse to return back [to their home with the team], we allow them to do it by themselves,' Dulmusrid said as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Aceh Singkil spokesperson Khaldum said most of the refugees in Manduamas had returned back to Aceh Singkil after they were picked up by local authorities on Friday.
There are approximately 1,000 Aceh Singkil refugees in Sibagindar, and 2,500 refugees in Manduamas. (ags/ebf)
