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Govt to no longer use ‘Isa Al-Masih’ for Christian holidays
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A congregant prays during a Good Friday service at the Catholic Church of Christ The King in Surabaya, East Java on April 2, 2021. Mass-goers are required to adhere to the strict health protocol during the service to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. (Antara/Didik Suhartono)
T
he government will no longer use the term Isa Al-Masih when referring to Christian holidays, ending decades of state policy to refer to Jesus Christ, a key figure in the Christian faith that is professed by millions of Indonesians, by his Islamic name.
While Indonesian Christians invoke the name Yesus Kristus in their prayers, the state has used the nomenclature Isa Al-Masih for at least two Christian holidays: Good Friday (Wafatnya Isa Al-Masih) and the Ascension of Christ (Kenaikan Isa Al-Masih). Starting 2024, it will officially use the name Yesus Kristus instead.
“There will be a change in the nomenclature [regarding the names of the holidays] as proposed by the Religious Affairs Minister,” Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy said on Tuesday. “The name Isa Al-Masih will be changed into Yesus Kristus.”
The minister revealed the new policy when announcing the dates for 17 national holidays, including three Christian holidays, and 10 days of joint leave for 2024.
The policy change could be more than just a problem of semantics for some people, given that Muslims and Christians have fundamentally different views of Jesus. Mainstream Muslims consider Jesus as the penultimate prophet of Islam, while mainstream Christians see the religious figure as God-incarnate and the way to eternal salvation.
Wardhany Tsa Tsia, 29, applauded the government's move to change the national holiday’s name from Isa Almasih to Yesus Kristus, seeing it as a move to accommodate the interests of Christians. “This is the right decision because, in Catholicism, it seems like we never use the word Isa Almasih, but we use Jesus Christ, so the government has taken the right step,” Tsa Tsia said on Tuesday.
Anastasia Sidebang, a 31-year-old Catholic, welcomed the government move, adding that she had no problem with the name Isa Almasih or Jesus Christ in the holiday's name as long as all people can worship safely.
