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View all search resultsDepok Council rejects draft bylaw to make residents more religious
Religiosity is a private matter between humans and God, hence the city administration should not interfere, Depok Council Speaker Hendrik Tangke Allo has explained as he rejected a proposed bylaw on "religious" behavior.
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People recite the Quran while waiting to break the fast. The Depok Council has rejected a draft bylaw to make Depok a 'religious city'. (The Jakarta Post/Wendra Ajistyatama )
T
he Depok Council has rejected a proposed bylaw submitted by the city administration to make Depok a “religious city”, saying that religion is not something to be regulated by regional governments.
Depok Council Speaker and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) member Hendrik Angke Tallo said the bylaw aimed to regulate the religious behavior of Depok residents, including how they dress.
He said the council’s consultative body (Bamus) was opposed to including the bylaw in the city’s legislation program (prolegda).
Hendrik cited Law No. 23/204 on regional administration, which does not delegate religious matters to local administrations. Such matters were under the authority of the central government.
“Religiosity is a very private matter between humans and God. Hence, it is not the authority of the city administration to measure its residents’ level of religiousness,” Hendrik said in a written statement recently.
He added that the bylaw could discriminate against minority religions and women.
“The Depok administration could issue regulations on public order or on livelihoods to regulate some of its citizens’ behavior, but not in the framework of rewards and sins or heaven and hell,” Hendrik said.
