Indonesia: Embattled Religious Affairs Minister Says His Seat in Cabinet in the President’s Hands

Lawmaker Ali Maschan said PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, who is also the manpower minister, was prepared to take over as religious affairs minister. The Manpower Ministry has a smaller annual budget than the PPP-controlled Religious Affairs Ministry. 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By JG | February 17, 2011

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on Wednesday that he was prepared to give up his post if the president ordered a cabinet reshuffle.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) has made fresh calls for Suryadharma, also chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), to step down in the wake of recent attacks by Islamic hard-liners against an Ahmadiyah community in Banten and on churches and a Christian school in Central Java.

Suryadharma said he had no say in whether he should retain the top spot at the ministry, adding that anyone seeking to replace him as religious affairs minister should have a word with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“So go ahead and make the request,” he said. “It will ultimately depend on the president’s decision.”


On Tuesday, a PKB official said the recent attack in Pandeglang, Banten, in which three Ahmadis were killed, as well as the riot in Temanggung, Central Java, should be reason enough for Yudhoyono to fire Suryadharma, who has repeatedly condemned the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect and called for it to be banned.

Lawmaker Ali Maschan said PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, who is also the manpower minister, was prepared to take over as religious affairs minister. The Manpower Ministry has a smaller annual budget than the PPP-controlled Religious Affairs Ministry.

The Islam-based PKB and PPP have been staunch rivals in each election since the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime in 1998.

The PKB was founded by former President Abdurrahman Wahid, known popularly as Gus Dur, who was also former leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in the country.

However, last month Suryadharma gathered hundreds of religious leaders in East Java — the main support base of the NU — to pledge their support for the PPP for the 2014 election.

PKB lawmaker Abdul Kadir Karding previously said the budget of the Religious Affairs Ministry should be re-evaluated, accusing Suryadharma of using state funds to woo clerics to join his party.

The statement came on the same day as an announcement from the PPP that 23 clerics from Brebes, Central Java, had pledged to join the party following a meeting between the minister and about 3,000 clerics at an Islamic boarding school.

However, Suryadharma said on Wednesday that he had no personal issues with the PKB or its members.

He also said his meetings with clerics should not be seen as an attempt to poach PKB loyalists.

“I can’t forbid any members or clerics of the PKB from joining the PPP and vice versa,” he said. Markus Junianto Sihaloho




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