A job ad by a regional Religious Affairs Office in Indonesia discriminating against non-Muslims has been modified following objections, sources said.
The Oct. 10 ad by the Tarakan Regency Ministry of Religious Affairs Office in North Kalimantan Province specified that applicants for custodial and office security positions must be Muslims able to recite the Quran, which the Tarakan branch of the Indonesian Christian Student Movement (Gerakan Mahasiswa Kristen Indonesia, GMKI) called a discriminatory government policy.
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The chairman of the Tarakan Branch of the Indonesian Christian Student Movement, Michael Jama, questioned the need for religious qualifications for positions unrelated to religion.
“How can maintaining office security or cleaning the office require specific religious qualifications?” Michael said, adding that the job required integrity and competence, not a religious label, according to news outlet Kraya.id.
Michael said the job recruitment provisions violated the Indonesian constitution’s Article 27, paragraph (1), and Article 28D, paragraph (2), concerning the right to work without discrimination. The ad put pluralism of Indonesia in danger in Tarakan, he said.
“The Tarakan City Ministry of Religious Affairs Office does not belong only to Muslims, but to all Tarakan residents from various religious backgrounds,” he said, reported Kraya.id.
Instagram user account @kabarsejuk accused the ad of “job vacancies of demonstrating religious discrimination institutionalized by the state,” adding, “This practice contradicts the principle of equality in the 1945 Constitution and ILO [International Labor Organization] Convention No. 111.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and published by Morning Star News.
