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Ruling on religious dress code in state schools threatens freedom
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A high school student in Indonesia wearing the typical white and grey uniform. (Shutterstock/Quon_ID)
A
recent ruling by the Supreme Court to revoke a joint ministerial decree that banned state schools from prescribing religious attire has been met with criticism from rights activists and experts, who said it would put schoolgirls back into discriminatory dress codes.
The Supreme Court ruled last Monday in favor of petitioners from the Minangkabau Customary Institution (LKAAM), a West Sumatra administration-sanctioned organization that protects the local culture, and declared the decree null and void. The Supreme Court justices presiding over the case were Yulius, Is Sudaryono and Irfan Fachruddin.
The panel found the decree was made without following the proper procedures to issue a regulation, in violation of the 2011 law on drafting of laws and regulations, according to Supreme Court spokesperson and justice Andi Samsan Nganro who cited the ruling. The court also found the decree contradicted some provisions in three other laws, including those of the 2003 National Education System Law that mandate that students have the right to religious education.
Signed on Feb. 3 by Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim, Home Minister Tito Karnavian and Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, the decree ordered state schools and local administrators nationwide to revoke any regulations requiring or banning students from wearing religious attire as part of their uniform, with the exception of Aceh. The decree was made to protect the individual freedom of every student to wear or not to wear religious attire, following a controversy in January over a state school in Padang, West Sumatra, that had made hijabs mandatory for all female students. It was in line with a provision in the 2003 law on the education system that mandates that education be carried out in a nondiscriminatory manner by upholding religious values and national diversity, among other values.
Read also: No religious dress code in public schools, ministerial decree states
“This [ruling] is a huge setback for religious freedom and expression in Indonesia, especially for schoolgirls and female teachers in state schools,” Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He said the judicial review petition was only one of the ways that conservative Muslims wanted to pressure all Muslim girls and women to wear the hijab in Indonesia even though the Constitution protected freedom of expression and religious freedom, as well as the right to education without discrimination.
