It was declared by former President Soeharto in 1971 that Good Friday, the Wafat (passing) of Isa al-Masih, and the Kenaikan (ascension) of Isa al-Masih, would be public holidays. Starting this year, the latter will be officially known as the Ascension of Jesus Christ. 

It has taken Indonesia five decades to reach a compromise given religious sensitivity in the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Yet, Christians in the country have been thankful that those important holidays were treated as national public holidays.

The recent change was more than semantic. Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. According to Christian dogma, the Trinity is the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. In Islam, Jesus Christ is recognized as a Prophet.

Some Muslims still think that they should not send Christmas greetings to their Christian friends, believing that they can unwittingly recognize Jesus as the son of God. But for the majority of Muslims, it is only a social obligation and has nothing to do with faith. 

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration deserves the credit for that historic decision. Christians in the country should also be thankful for the Muslim population for having shown understanding and tolerance of minority groups. 

We can only hope that this recognition of the Christian faith can further promote mutual understanding between people of different beliefs so that Indonesia can become a more inclusive and tolerant society.

More importantly, now, people will get more freedom to practice their religion, and with a greater level of understanding, we can certainly expect a reduction in inter-faith conflicts. 

In past decades, members of minority faiths have faced adversity, especially in their efforts to set up houses of worship, including Christian churches.

It is no secret that to get a construction permit for a house of worship is difficult, and even after the authority has granted its approval, there are efforts taken by firebrand groups to halt the construction. These intolerant groups mostly argue that members of local community oppose to the construction of a new church.

Muslims obviously do not suffer from the same problem. They in fact can build mosques even before getting a permit from the authority, but that is the benefit of being the majority.

This holiday season, we should be optimistic about inter-faith relations, especially after the country experienced a calm post-election period.

In fact, as opposed to five years ago, when identity politics featured prominently in electoral politics, this year the issue of faith-based politics was barely discussed. 

Many certainly drew a sigh of relief when seeing the lack of Islamic hardliner groups on the campaign trail.

This is a radical departure from what we experienced in the 2014 and 2019 general elections, when efforts were made to drive a wedge between Muslim majority groups and members of minority faiths.

We still remember from those two elections, how supporters of Prabowo Subianto were often linked to hardliner organizations or groups while Jokowi’s supporters were suspected of being anti-Islam or of being communists.

It helps that in this year's presidential election, outgoing President Jokowi put his suport firmly behind Prabowo, who was declared by the General Elections Commission (KPU) this month as the winner.

With how things have turned out in the past few weeks, Christians in the country can peacefully and calmly commemorate the death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Happy Easter!