1,550 mosques damaged in quake
Despite the heavy destruction of mosques, madrassahs and churches in Yogyakarta and Central Java following the killer temblor last month, Indonesia will not make any formal requests for reconstruction of such religious facilities. Individuals and international charity organisations, however, are welcome to rebuild these in the affected areas, on their own initiative, Maftuh Basyuni, Indonesia’s Minister for Religious Affairs, said here yesterday.
Speaking to The Peninsula, the minister said, the razing of such huge religious infrastructure in the quake-hit zone was causing immense difficulties to residents of Yogyakarta, Bantul and other parts of Central Java adding that the Indonesian government and relief agencies had constructed tents as a makeshift solution. He said, a total of 1,550 mosques, over 500 madrassahs and hundreds of other smaller prayer facilities, over 70 churches and a sole Hindu temple, the Prambaeyan, were damaged or destroyed fully in the quake. “We will not make any formal appeals to rebuild them but those who wish to do so, are welcome,” he added.
A majority of the mosques destroyed by the temblor were in Bantul, where almost the entire population is Muslim. Indonesia has an 85 percent Muslim majority with Christians making the single largest minority group at 10 percent, one percent Hindus and the remaining are followers of different indigenous faiths.
Basyuni called upon Muslima and Islamic countries to follow the Ãl Wasatiya’ or the “Middle Track” to counter evil effects that extremism had had on the image of Islam. “Countries like Indonesia and Qatar are the moderate face of Islam and it is now essential to follow this track to successfully counter any extremism,” he added. The minister said within Indonesia, law reigns supreme and an agreement exists between his ministry and the Ministry of Interior over applying the same national law to citizens rather than different national laws. In recent weeks, some minority communities of Indonesia have called upon the government to review its by-laws that are based on the Islamic Shariaa, saying these put followers of other faiths at a disadvantage in various issues.