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Surabaya malls vow to obey MUI ban on Christmas attire for Muslim employees
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Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members disseminate information about the Indonesian Ulema Council’s (MUI) edict banning the use of Christmas attire for Muslim employees at Toeng Market in Surabaya on Sunday. (JP/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
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anagers of shopping centers in Surabaya, East Java, have vowed not to require Muslim employees to wear Christmas attire at work this holiday season, following pressure from the Islam Defenders Front.
Wahyu Kuncoro, the head of operations at Surabaya’s Toeng Market, for example, said he would obey the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) edict banning the use of Christmas attire like Santa hats for Muslims. “We will forward this message to our leadership. We apologize, because we were not aware of this before. We will follow and obey the MUI edict,” he said after receiving FPI representatives at his office.
About 50 FPI members visited shopping centers on Sunday, meeting the managers in charge to tell them not to force employees to wear Christmas attributes. FPI official Ali Fahmi said the management of Toeng Market had signed an agreement.
Ali said two points had been agreed to: first, that managers not tell Muslim employees to wear Christmas attributes and second, that they not force, intimidate or reward any employee in connection with Christmas attributes.
Surabaya’s Nahdlatul Ulama executive board member Ahmad Muhibin Zuhri said the MUI edict aimed to uphold tolerance among people of different religions. “Tolerance is to give each religious follower space to worship according to one’s faith,” he said.
Muhibin said the FPI’s action on Sunday was merely an act of exercising a civil right, although NU itself felt it would have been enough to disperse information on the edict through the media.
Surabaya Police, which had escorted the FPI in visiting the malls, said they had made sure the visits did not cause any disturbances. “In total, we visited seven shopping centers to disseminate information about the edict. We escorted them to ensure public safety,” Surabaya Police chief Sr. Comr. M. Iqbal said. (evi)
