The Strategy to Improve Religious Services for Religious Minorities

Muchtar Ali

, Kustini

and Kamal Fiqry Musaa

Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta, Jl. Ir. H. Juanda 95 Ciputat, Jakarta, Indonesia

Faculty of Shariah and Law Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta, Ciputat, Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: religious services, freedom, minority.

Abstract: Religious service for minorities is the subject that has been heavily discussed within the Shariah framework.

The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship without exception, including religious services

for minorities such as the establishment of place of worship, recording of marriages and births, funerals, and

identity cards issuance. Neglecting minority rights in the context of religious services is a serious problem

found in several provinces in Indonesia. The lack of attention to minority communities can be seen as a form

of ignoring citizenship rights. This can also be seen as an act of neglecting the constitutional mandate that

guarantees every citizen to get an equal treatment by the government. To improve religious services for

religious minorities, there is a need for a new paradigm approach and strategy in order to cut down on

constraints and barriers for giving the services needed. This study aims to better uncover the problems of

religious services for religious minorities along with the social context behind it, propose new strategies to

improve the existing policies, and developed programs that can be implemented as a solution for the

improvement.

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesia is not a theocratic state because it is not

based on a particular religion, but also is not a secular

state. Moreover, this country recognizes religion as an

important aspect that animates the foundation of the

country, as stated in the first principle of Pancasila,

which is Godhead, and in article 29 paragraph 1 1945

Constitution (check back) (1945 Constitution) which

reads "The State is based on the One Godhead". With

those argument, the state indeed regulates the

religious life of its people through one department,

namely the Ministry of Religion - now the Ministry

of Religion. (Research and Development Agency of

the Ministry of Religion RI; 1998; pp. V).

Indonesia, for guaranteeing the protection of its

religious minorities, has provided a ‘protection

framework’. This has been constructed based on its

constitution, international covenants and other special

national policies and regulations. The Indonesian

government has normatively built a foundation to

respect and protect those religious minorities. This

can be noted as one of the main efforts of the post-

authoritarian government. First, the Indonesian

constitution declares a freedom of beliefs. In

paragraph 29, and also in some amended paragraphs

of the constitution, the freedom of every person to

express their religious, the freedom of every person to

express their religious beliefs has been proclaimed as

one of the fundamental concerns. The constitution

requires the state to protect the freedom of all people

for expressing their beliefs in daily life. Second, to

support this constitutional foundation, Indonesia has

also ratified several international conventions.

2 EXCELLENT RELIGIOUS

SERVICES AS A MANDATE OF

THE MINISTRY OF RELIGION

Religion is a very primordial human need. Fulfilment

of the need for religion can increase the degree and

quality of one's humanity and at the same time

dynamic a society towards a great civilization. Emile

Durkheim (Turner, 1991: 80)

The Ministry of Religion of the Republic of

Indonesia (abbreviated as the Indonesian Ministry of

Religion, formerly the Ministry of Religion of the

Republic of Indonesia, abbreviated as the Ministry of

Religion of the Republic of Indonesia) is a ministry

within the Indonesian Government in charge of

Ali, M., Kustini, . and Musaa, K.

The Strategy to Improve Religious Services for Religious Minorities.

DOI: 10.5220/0009919909130922

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 913-922

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

913

religious affairs. Religious service is one type of

public service organized by the Ministry of Religion.

As one of the state apparatuses that functioned to

serve all adherents of religions in parts of the

Republic of Indonesia. The Ministry of Religion has

the duty to ensure that all adherents of the religion are

free to practice their religion and beliefs without

getting obstacles and interference from other parties.

Minority is an important issue in the context of

public services, especially religious services. This is

because minority groups often do not get enough care

from policy makers. The lack of attention to minority

communities can be read as a form of ignoring

citizenship rights. Which means neglecting the

constitutional mandate that guarantees every citizen

to get the same service by the state.

Religious demography in Indonesia shows that

around 98% of Muslims in Indonesia are Sunni

followers. The rest, around two or three million

followers are Shiites. Also there are Sikh minority

groups, estimated at between 10,000 or 15,000, who

are domiciled in Medan and Jakarta. Likewise there

are Bahai communities. The province of Bali is

predominantly Hindu, and the provinces of Papua,

West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara and North Sulawesi

are the largest adherents of Christianity.

• The issue of status and treatment concerning

religious services for minorities in the sharia and

constitutional order is still in the circle of certain

inaccuracies, or not in ideal conditions, such as

filling in the religious column on the KTP national

identity card for Ahmadiyah and Shia, Confucian

minority religious groups, establishment and

sealing of houses of worship such as churches,

mosques and monasteries is still an acute problem.

• In dealing with actual issues regarding religious

services, the strategy can be an essential tool to

identify strategic religious service issues and

reorient policies to improve religious services for

religious minorities in the future.

3 UNDERSTANDING,

MINORITIES, RELIGIOS AND

RELIGIOUS SERVICES

Generally, the them of minority in accordance with

Fransesco Capotorti and Jules Deschennes is a group,

numerically inferior to the rest population of a State,

in a non-dominant position, whose members of the

State posses ethnic, religious ot linguistics differing

form those of the rest of the population and show, if

only implicitly a sense of solidarity directed towards

preserving their culture, tradition, religion or

language. Other term we also will argue that the

meaning of minority is a group of citizen of a State,

constituting a numerical minority and in a non-

dominant position in that State, endowed with ethnic,

religious or linguistic characteristic which differ from

those majority of the population, having a sense of

solidarity with one another, motivated, if only

implicit, by a collective will to survive and whose aim

is to achieve equality with the majority in fact and in

law.

The two definitions above refer to the same

thing to define minority, namely numeric (number).

A group can be called a minority if it is smaller than

the rest population in another country. Other phrases

used are non-dominant positions (not dominant).

Because the context is the state, the meaning of "not

dominant" is political representation in the state

bureaucracy. The most concrete example is the

comparison of the structure between Bimas

(Community Guidance) of Islam and other religion in

the Ministry of Religion Office. For example in the

Ministry of Religion of Ternate City, almost all

institutional structures are representations of Muslim

communities. In fact, the representation of Muslim

services touched the sub-district level through the

office of religious affairs, which although it did not

specifically mention Islam but the entire KUA main

tasks and functions was intended to serve the interests

of Muslims, not other religious communities. The

only service structure outside Islam is the organizer

of the Christian Bimas.

3.1 Strategy

The business dictionary defines “strategy”, the

presumed output of strategic planning, as:

1. Method or plan chosen to bring a bout a

desired future, such as achievment of a goal

or solution to a problem.

2. The art and sience of planning and

masrshalling recources of their most

efficient adn effective use.

Mulgan likewise defines public strategy as “the

systematic use of public resources, and power by a

public agencies, to achieve public goals”. (Benedic

Wauters: Strategic management in the public sector:

march, 2017).

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3.2 Religious Services

Indonesia Presidential Regulation Number 7

Year 2015 concerning State Ministry of Organization

in article 95 paragraph (1) stipulates that "Provisions

concerning Ministry organizations that handle

government affairs in foreign, defence, legal,

financial and religious fields which are absolute

government affairs are regulated by Regulation Own

president.

The Ministry of Religion of the Republic of

Indonesia is one of the institutions which is not

autonomous because it is a political issue which is

related to the issue of nationalism and the frame of the

Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. This

religious service with a centralistic character on the

one hand results in an inflexible and effective service.

Religious services have meanings that refer to

services provided by the Ministry of Religion and are

needed by the community. Religious services include

the service of the Office of Religious Affairs (KUA)

and marriage, affirming, hajj services, services for

Croatian religion, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism,

Confucianism and local beliefs of worship houses and

educational services. In this study will focus on the

service of providing religious identity in the national

population identity column (KTP) and freedom of

worship and establishment of places of worship.

If we look back to the Indonesian government

management, the services provided by the

government, including the ministry of religion, can be

categorized as public services, arguing that the

service concerns the basic needs of its citizens, both

services are carried out by the central or regional

government. Third, service orientation is not to seek

profit differently from private service. Therefore, the

true religious service as part of the public service

applies the characteristics of the intended public

service. In cases in developed countries, public

service is essentially a public service not to profit or

loss orientation. The essence of public service

including religious services is a service to fulfill

human needs, therefore there should be no neglect of

the rights of religious minorities.

3.3 Legal Framework of Religious

Services

Indonesia, for guaranteeing the protection of its

religious minorities, has provided a ‘protection

framework’. This has been constructed based on its

constitution, international covenants and other special

national policies and regulations. The Indonesian

government has normatively built a foundation to

respect and protect those religious minorities. This

can be noted as one of the main efforts of the post-

authoritarian government. First, the Indonesian

constitution declares a freedom of beliefs. In

paragraph 29, and also in some amended paragraphs

of the constitution, the freedom of every person to

express their religious the freedom of every person to

express their religious beliefs has been proclaimed as

one of the fundamental concerns. The constitution

requires the state to protect the freedom of all people

for expressing their beliefs in daily life. Second, to

support this constitutional foundation, Indonesia has

also ratified several international conventions.

Religious service is one type of public service

organized by the Ministry of Religion. The scope of

religious services includes facilities for religious

infrastructure, fostering religious communities, and

strengthening relations between religious

communities. Religious service indicators include

service procedures, service requirements, clarity of

service assignments, speed and accuracy of services,

justice in service (Abdul Jamil et al., 2015: 13-14).

The formal basis of Ministry of Religion's

Services is based on the Ministry of Religion Mission

R.I. Number 39 of 2015 concerning the 2015 - 2019

Ministry of Religion Strategic Plan in points four and

seven, namely; "Providing an equal and quality

service for religious life" and "Improving the access

and quality of public education characterized by

religion, religious education in general education

units, and religious education." This vision explicitly

states that the Ministry of Religion has a

constitutional mandate to provide services to all

adherents religion without exception, both in the

context of theological and geographical settings

where the adherents are located.

The formal basis of Ministry of Religion's

Services is based on the Ministry of Religion Mission

R.I. Number 39 of 2015 concerning the 2015 - 2019

Ministry of Religion Strategic Plan in points four and

seven, namely; "Providing an equal and quality

service for religious life" and "Improving the access

and quality of public education characterized by

religion, religious education in general education

units, and religious education." This vision explicitly

states that the Ministry of Religion has a

constitutional mandate to provide services to all

adherents religion without exception, both in the

context of theological and geographical settings

where the adherents are located. Inclusion of religious

identity in the KTP column can be categorized as part

of religious services. For the implementation of this

service, there are indeed several ministries that are

The Strategy to Improve Religious Services for Religious Minorities

915

related to this service task. The organization of

worship and the establishment of places of worship

for religious people and the flow of beliefs are also

part of the service of religious life.

One of the products of the Ministry of Religion's

policy together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs

in matters of the management of religious groups is

PBM (Ministerial Regulation) No. 9 and 8 of 2006

concerning the management of harmony. Together

with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of

Religion issued a policy to regulate the traffic of the

construction of houses of worship with the aim that

the right of every religion to embrace religion was

protected and the consequences of possible social

friction could be eliminated through the agreement

contained in the PBM. This is one form of

implementation of the Ministry of Religion's services

to adherents of religion, both majority and minority.

Nationally, the state may be said to have

sensitivity to the presence of minority groups.

Although the Ministry of Religion's macro program is

more representative of the interests of Muslims, the

interests of religious groups referred to as adherents

of minority religions also have a place in the structure

of the Ministry of Religion. Representation of

minority groups as much as possible is presented in

the ministry structure space in the form of directorates

general of all religions (except Confucianism, which

is still being formulated). The representation of this

national institutional structure was imitated at the

Provincial Ministry of Regional Affairs (Kanwil)

level. In the Regional Office of the Ministry of

Religion of North Maluku Province, representation of

minority community groups was administered

through the Christian Bimas Division, Catholic

Facilitator Section, Hindu-Buddhist treasurer (under

the Law and KUB Section, including the interests of

Confucians). Actually, until 2012, the structure of the

Hindu-Buddhist Assistance section already existed,

but it was abolished because of the polemic between

the Hindu-Buddhist Assessor and the Hindu

community religious organization (PHDI). While at

the Ministry of Religion level of Ternate City there is

only one structure at the level of the organizers of the

Christian Community Guidance. Catholics, Hindus,

Buddhists and Confucians have no structural

representation at all. The four groups are served by

structures at the regional office of the Ministry of

Religion (Kanwil).

These structures later became the representation

of the state in providing services to all religious

groups. As an important point in article 29 of the 1945

Constitution which guarantees the freedom of every

citizen to embrace and practice their respective

religions and beliefs, the Ministry of Religion

certainly has an obligation to ensure that the freedom

to practice the teachings of each religion. The

presence of the structure of the religious community

which is a meeting between the representation of

religious and state citizens shows that the spirit of

justice for all religions (especially 6 religions which

are considered as the official religion in Indonesia)

has been carried out in Indonesia. However, there are

two problems that arise in the context of

"administering" the presence of minority religious

groups in the institutional structure of the Ministry of

Religion as will be described later.

4 IMPLEMENTATION OF

RELIGIOUS SERVICES

4.1 Religious Registration Requirement

on KTPs

Based on International Religious Freedom

Report United State Department of State Bureau of

Democracy, Human Right, and Labor for four years

later (2015-2018) Minority Muslim groups, including

Ahmadis and Shia, also continued to report resistance

when they tried to apply for KTPs as Muslims,

effectively denying them access to public services if

they could not secure KTPs. Minority religious

groups, including Shia and Ahmadi Muslim s,

continued to report discrimination in the

administration of public services, such as procuring

marriage licenses or receiving healthcare, if they

chose to leave the religion column blank on their

KTPs. This problem still become acute problem.

Minority Islamic groups also continued to report

resistance when they tried to apply for KTPs as

Muslims. Although Ahmadis in Mataram,

Tasikmalaya, and most other areas across the country

were recently able to acquire KTPs listing their

religion as Islam, the local government of Kuningan

Regency, West Java, continued to refuse to distribute

KTPs to local Ahmadis in Manislor village, stating

they need a letter from the MRA recognizing the

Ahmadiyya community as part of Islam or should

apply with a blank religion column. Ahmadis in

Kuningan remained unable to access many

government services because they did not have KTPs.

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4.2 Regarding to the Injustice

According to Machasin, Director-General of

Islamic Community Guidance, earlier, in terms of

regulation, Machasin assessed that although there are

several laws and derivatives that guarantee religious

freedom, they still treat unfairly other believers

outside the six religions, and only six religions served

in Indonesia.

We can see the unfairness of the implementation

of the Law, the first in marriage. If the religion is not

included in the six religions, then the marriage cannot

enter in the civil registry, consequently the child born

does not get a birth certificate. Secondly in education,

in the Law it says students have the right to education

in accordance with their religion, but if they are

outside the six religions, they cannot be served. That

is a law that we do not have yet. So there must be

some kind of acknowledgment by the state of the

religious beliefs adopted by the Indonesian people, let

alone religion that has been recognized

internationally (e.g. Jews, Taoists, etc.), it still cannot

be served in Indonesia, "concluded Machasin.

Machasin proposed a solution in the context of

registering religion that the state could not yet serve,

at least there were four things that needed to be

formulated. First, the religion has a unique teaching

system, so it can distinguish it from other religions,

for example Christianity with Catholicism. Second,

there is a ceremony or ritual that can be shown. Third,

there are followers in Indonesia. Fourth, there is a

kind of representative that connects the religion with

the state, such as representatives, priests, or related

organizations.

If these four things already exist, then the state

can register that religion in state records. But the

Ministry of Religion cannot own it, it can be handled

by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights

(Kemenkumham), the Ministry of Home Affairs

(Kemendagri), or other state institutions formed

specifically to register religion.

Machasin put forward the arguments on which

the proposal was based, namely the purpose of

government in addition to protecting, it should also

guarantee that there should be no religious life which

caused other religions to be disrupted, for example

when Shia and Ahmadiyya held worship activities,

but Sunni Islam was unwilling to think they were

heretics. The state should not allow that to happen.

(Kartika Virgianti, http://www.satuharapan.com).

Another issue regarding the improvement of

religious services is the service to the community of

the Baha'i religion. Baha'i Religion is a religion that

grew and developed in the international world besides

Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,

Confucianism, Judaism, Shintoism and

Zoroastrianism. The growth and development of the

Baha'i religion received considerable attention from

scientists. This can be seen from at least the entry of

the Baha'i religion as one of the entries in several

international encyclopaedias, including The

Encyclopaedia of World Religion, page 45, Religion

of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopaedia of

Belief and Practices, pages102-1013; World

Religion: Almanac Volume 1, pages 69 -86.

The Baha'i religion entered Indonesia in 1885

brought by two Iranian Baha'i missionaries, Jamal

Effendi and Sayyid Mustafa Rumi. They came

through Singapore to Batavia (Jakarta), then to Bali

and Lombok to finally go to Sulawesi. According to

information from the National Spiritual Assembly,

currently the Bahai people have spread in various

districts / cities in 28 (twenty eight provinces), among

others: Sumatra North in Medan, DKI Jakarta,

namely in Central Jakarta, West Jakarta, South

Jakarta. West Java in Bekasi, Depok, and Bandung,

Central Java, namely in Semarang, Pati, Klaten,

Cepu, Grobogan / Purwodadi, Solo, Jogja, and

Magelang. East Java, namely; Surabaya, Malang,

Tulung Agung, Bojonegoro, Ponorogo and

Banyuwangi; South Sulawesi ; in Makassar, Palopo.

North Sulawesi Province in Manado, Bali Province in

Denpasar. (Research Center for Religious Life

Research and Development Agency and Ministry of

Religion Training).

As for the number if referring to the results of

the research of the Religious Life Research and

Development Center of the R & D of the Ministry of

Religion, until now there is no exact figure on the

number of them in Indonesia. This is because they

live in harmony with society and do not show certain

characteristics, both in physical appearance and in the

manner of worship, so that they are not easily

recognized specifically. In addition, in some areas,

Baha'is are still reluctant to show their identity as

Baha'i followers because of the bitter experience of

the past when they were regarded as followers of

deviant flow. So there are reasons for identity,

psychology and also the safety and comfort factors.

However, from the monitoring in the field during the

research, it can be mentioned the estimated number of

Baha'i followers in several areas, including in Jakarta

around 100 people, in Bandung City and Regency 50

people, in Palopo 80 people, in Medan around 100

people, in Pati 23 people, in Bekasi 11 people, in

Surabaya 98 people, in Malang City there are 15

people, in Malang Regency 15 people, and in

Banyuwangi around 220 people. So they are

The Strategy to Improve Religious Services for Religious Minorities

917

generally spread in 3 provinces, namely DKI, West

Java, Sulawesi, East Java. (Research Center for

Religious Life Research and Development Agency

and Ministry of Religion Training).

At least there are three problems experienced by

Baha'i followers, namely that they have not received

civil rights services related to the inclusion of religion

in KTP and KK, Birth Certificates, Marriage Acts and

religious education in schools. This caused the

followers of the Baha'i religion to experience various

difficulties. For example, because they do not have a

marriage certificate, then when a child is born a child

is written from a mother. The children in the school

have not yet received religious studies as mandated in

Law Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National

Education System ... (Research Center for Religious

Life Research and Development Agency Ministry of

Religion). Although the results of the Research

Center for Religious Life Research and Training and

Education Ministry Ministry of Religion are

recognized, there have been several regions that

include Bahai religion in KTP, KK, birth certificate

and marriage certificate, namely Padang City, West

Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, Makassar, South Sulawesi,

Mentawai Islands and Mimika Regency Civil

Registry Office (2009). (Research Center for

Religious Life Research and Development Agency

and Ministry of Religion Training).

4.3 Construction Place of Worship

As mentioned that constitution guarantees the

right to choose and to practice the religion of one’s

choice. The government requires officially

recognized religious groups to comply with directives

from the MRA and other ministerial directives, on

issues such as construction of houses of worship,

foreign aid to domestic religious institutions, and

propagation of religion. According to a joint

ministerial decree, religious groups wanting to build

a house of worship are required to obtain the

signatures of at least 90 members of the group and 60

persons of other religious groups in the community

stating they support the construction. Local

governments are in charge of implementing the

decree, and local regulations, implementation, and

enforcement vary widely. The decree also requires

approval from the local interfaith council, the Forum

for Religious Harmony (FKUB). Government-

established FKUBs exist at the city or district level

and comprise religious leaders from the six

recognized religious groups. They are responsible for

mediating interreligious conflicts.

Lukman (Minister of Religion of the Republic of

Indonesia) acknowledged that although inter-

religious life has been well established, there are

several problems that must be resolved. Cases that

need to be considered by the new cabinet are the issue

of houses of worship and violent conflicts that still

occur. (http://manado.tribunnews.com/2014/07/28/).

Referring to the International Religious Freedom

Report from the State Department of Democracy,

Human Rights, and Labor in the period 2015-2018,

cases of freedom of religion and the establishment of

houses of worship still seem to be the issue of service

issues regarding the establishment of religious

minority houses in the province. still an acute

problem. In terms of location of service, the issue of

house of worship services in 2015 occurred no less in

six provinces, namely the burning of mushalla

buildings in Manokwari Papua, blocking the

construction of Protestant churches in Jatinegara East

Jakarta, closing 19 churches in Singkil Aceh, burning

the construction of the Sapta Darma temple in

Rembang Central Java, blocking the building of the

Ahmadiyya mosque in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta,

closing the Saman Indonesian Baptist Church in

Bantul, Yogyakarta, terminating the construction of

the Santa Clara Church in Bekasi, West Java.

However, in the period of 2015 continued the

rebuilding of the Nur Musafir mosque in Kupang,

East Nusa Tenggara. (International Religious

Freedom Report United 2015 State Department of

Democracy, Human Rights and Labor). From the

report data, it can be seen that there have been

problems with the services of houses of worship for

minority religious groups. These problems occur due

to the role of local or local government elements or

by some, community organizations.

5 STRATEGIES PLAN AND

ACTIONS FOR THE

RELIGIOUS SERVICE SECTOR

The committee developed five strategies and

associated actions to assist governments at all levels

in promoting religious freedom and welfare of public

instead of religious minorities. According to Jenny

Stewart The scope for strategic management in the

public sector: Three kinds of strategic thinking are

significant: (1) policy strategy (2) organisational

strategy; and (3) managerial strategy. (Jenny Stewart:

Symposium The meaning of Strategy in Public

Sector).

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5.1 Policy Strategy

Policy strategy is what government wants to change

— its agenda, and the ways in which the agency will

move to help it achieve this agenda.

Policy strategy is not the same as the ‘outcomes’

agencies put forward in their portfolio budget

statements, because these are ‘back cast’ from

legislated mandates, and are too broad and bland to

be used for true strategic purposes. Rather, policy

strategy refers to the ongoing relationships Ministers

and agencies use in developing and deploying policy.

It is both an opportunity for departments, and a

discipline for Ministers.

STRATEGY 1: Improve federal efforts to

implement religious freedom recommendations.

The full potential benefits of implementing

religious recommendations can be approached by a

local goverment and Minsitry of religious affairs

coordinated effort, collaboration with state and local

governments, and participation of the private sector,

professional and voluntary organizations, and

religious leadrr advocacy and community groups.

(https://www.google.comsearc)

ACTION 1: The minsitry religious executive at

province should establish a coordinating

mechanism that would promote the

implementation of religious freedom

recommendations. The had of Religious

Minsitry Affairs at Provinces has taken steps to

coordinate many of its nutrition-related

activities by establishing specific inter-and

intra-agency groups. The Interagency

Committee on Human Right Research, which

coordinates government-sponsored religious

research, is cochaired by an assistant MUI,

Religious NGOs and Provinces or Local

Goverment and FKUB.

ACTION 2: Encourage members of the state

legislative bodies to play active roles in the

implementation of religious freedom

recommendations.

Legislative bodies have special opportunities

and responsibilities to devote some of their attention,

interest, insights, and expertise on matters that affect

the freedom of religious of their constituents. Many

members of the state legislative bodies are becoming

more cognizant of the key role that freedom of

religious patterns play in the general well-being of the

public.

Members of the state legislative bodies

Congress can assist in efforts to implement freedom

of religious recommendations in the various agencies

through oversight hearings, authorizations and

appropriations, conference report language, and other

legislative actions. Support from the legislative

branch will encourage high-level administrators in

the executive branch departments to give priority and

resources to freedom of religious recommendations in

policy guidelines, technical assistance programs,

education and information initiatives, and other

activities addressing the protection and tolerance

religious minorities.

STRATEGY 2 : Change laws, regulations, and

agency practices that have an appreciable but indirect

impact on religious freedom so that they make more

foods to support tolerance and protection minorities.

ACTION 1: Improve awareness tolerance, and

processing regulations to permit community to make

better informed .

Community or citizens cannot make informed

religious freedom unless they know how their

tolerance patterns contribute to public welfare and

how to improve their responsibilies. Without this

knowledge, community or citizen cannot know what

kinds of actions and regulation may make they

involve in tolerance or religious violence.

ACTION 2 : Improve the interfaith dialogue

with religios leaders and stakesholders.

A simple adapted methodology of strategy

formulation which minority Muslim organizations

can use to formulate their own growth strategies using

small Moslim groups and both interreligious and

inter-Muslim dialogue. The objectives may include

improved relations between Muslims and Christians,

increased cohesion across minority Muslim

communities, as well as the revivification of involved

local minority Muslim communities. The method of

strategy formulation with the portfolio of different

genres of dialogue can be used to plan and program

elite and non-elite dialogue across communities,

providing theoretically for an expansion of dialogue

across communities. (Mohamad Nasrin Nasir )

5.2 Organisational Strategy

Organisational strategy is more akin to strategy in the

private sector. It is what the organisation does to meet

the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, what it

does to underpin its future in a world in which

competitive pressures are never far away.

Human resources, often neglected in public

services, become a more obviously signifi cant area

when there is a clearer organisational strategy of this

kind, because employees are the key repositories of

The Strategy to Improve Religious Services for Religious Minorities

919

the agency’s values-based, cultural and historical

qualities. Relations with clients, too, move from a

concern with ‘customer service’ to a more truly

stakeholder-oriented philosophy.

STRATEGY. Establishment of Service-Based

Institutional Structure

Action: Make changes to the institutional

structure in Minority and Border Regions.

Departing from the results of Saprillah's research

on "Religious Services for Minority Adherents in

Ternate City, found that there are at least two service

problems in the minority area. First, the limited scope

of representation. Expansion and development of

structures have very rigid rules. The minimum

number of religious followers who can get

representation at the City / Regency Ministry of

Religion level is a minimum of 6000 people (Susan's

interview, the extension section of the Christian

Bimas Division of the North Maluku Provincial

Office of Religion). Even though at this time, there is

a discourse that is being formulated to structure the

Ministry of Religion regardless of the number of

religious people in the region. However, this

discourse is still difficult to realize because there are

still a number of overlapping regulations.

This limitation can be understood as a form of

administration of minority group representations that

are reasonable. Without restrictions, the state will be

burdened with the necessity to form an institutional

structure which means that it has implications for a

very large budget burden. It can be imagined if every

Ministry of Religion at the regency / city level is

obliged to provide an organizer structure without

limiting the minimum number of religious people.

The fact is, even though the structure is available, the

Ministry of Religion has not been able to meet human

resource needs in the internal institutions. Catholic

Bimas Section of Provincial Office of Ministry of

Religion North Maluku is currently only filled by one

section head assisted by three honorary staff. The

Bimas Kristen field is filled with six people who each

hold positions as section heads without staff. At the

Ministry of Religion level in Ternate City, the

organizers of the Christian Bimas were filled by one

organizer and two staff members (one of whom was

Muslim). For Hindu-Buddha-Khonghucu which is

attached to the structure of the Law and KUB section,

it is only filled by one person who is a treasurer of the

"bimas" Hindu-Buddha. And, Confucians have

absolutely no one to take care of and serve

Confucians. However, according to Saparillah, the

restrictions on the development of the structure in

turn caused an impact which made it difficult for the

Ministry of Religion to carry out religious services

(even within the minimum limit) as a whole to all

religious followers. For example, Buddhist and

Confucian communities in Ternate. Another impact is

that religious groups rarely get attention and services

from the Ministry of Religion, both at the city and

provincial ministries. The absence of a structure that

represents the presence of these two religious groups

is a factor. Their interests cannot be translated

through the budgeting mechanism. Even the

implementation of services cannot be carried out

because the assistance program provided cannot be

realized because it is not in accordance with reality.

Although Buddhists have a nomenclature in the

Ministry of Religion of North Maluku Province, but

because the holders of "power" are Hindus, their

interests as Buddhists do not get enough attention. For

example, the 2017 Ministry of Religion DIPA has a

Sunday school assistance program for Buddhists in

Ternate. However, the funds were difficult to disburse

because apparently the Buddhists did not have a

Sunday school. Second, the representation model.

Following Presidential Decree No. 49 of 2002

concerning the establishment and development of the

organizational structure of the Ministry of Religion,

there are two clauses that affirm representation,

namely part c) the number of population and

followers of religion; and f) number of religious

institutions fostered. These two clauses show that the

presence of institutional structures is a reflection of

the dynamics of the people (especially numerically).

In Gramsci's perspective (Edward Said, 2010: 9),

political societies (state institutions) are not part of

civil society. Political communities are positioned as

"rulers" and superior. The relationship between

political society and civil society is a power relation.

The face of this power relation is manifested in the

form of assistance and empowerment provided in the

form of fresh money or in the form of activities. This

power of reasoning is the background of the Ministry

of Religion's budgeting system. This indication is

getting stronger when the budgeting distribution is

more on personnel expenditure (salary and travel

costs) than the cost of "donations" and community

empowerment activities. 60-70% of the DIPA funds

from the Ministry of Religion are for personnel

expenditure and travel costs (processed from the

results of interviews with Pak Frans, Head of the

Catholic Advisory Section of the North Maluku

Provincial Office of the Ministry of Religion).

According to Saparillah, Presidential Decree No.

49 of 2002 actually does not depart from

"representation of the interests of civil society" but is

a representation of the authority of the political

community (state) to be able to serve or build power

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relations to civil society. The presence of religious

guidance structures cannot be understood as a channel

of interest to minority religious groups (including the

community Islam) but becomes a state channel to

articulate themselves in the midst of society. This can

be seen from the program design of the Ministry of

Religion's activities which are very rare or even never

involve stakeholders (religious organizations /

institutions). All programs of the Ministry of Religion

are based on a scheme that has been set by the

Director General of Bimas at the central Ministry of

Religion. The program of activities will not come out

of the house of worship assistance, holy book

assistance, strengthening the capacity of human

resources, supporting religious institutions. This is

out of the routine costs for personnel expenditure

(including certification of religious teachers from the

Ministry of National Education). (Saprillah

"Religious Services Against Minorities in Ternate

City, 142 | Journal of" Public Administration

"Volume XIII Number 2 December 2017).

5.3 Managerial Strategy

The technical activities of budget-making and

reporting, the vast array of operational decision-

making and the deployment of resources for

achieving agreed objectives are activities that are

usually held to be unequivocally ‘managerial’ in the

sense that they appear to be removed from the

strategic realms.

STRATEGY: Government ICT Religious

Services.

Action: One Roof Religious Services and

collaboration between government departments,

Modern information and communication

technologies have created a "global village," in which

people can communicate with others across the world

as if they were living next door. For this reason, ICT

is often studied in the context of how modern

communication technologies affect society. This

requires a strong move towards online services, better

protection of Religious and public Services, more

collaboration between government departments, and

a change in public service culture. Our Better Public

Services challenges include two which focus on

public sector ICT.

Achieving these targets requires a

transformation in our approach to ICT. Within five

years ahead , we want all new services to be offered

online. This will ultimately be faster and more

convenient than paper forms and travelling to

physical offices. In saying this, we will continue to

recognise the importance of face-to-face services for

those without internet access.

The introduction of the online Hajj service,

passports system is a fantastic example of what the

government can achieve.

Collaboration between government

departments, so they work and invest together to

achieve economies of scale. This includes a

coordinated approach to investment, choosing lower

cost models and shared infrastructure. It could to save

$ million a year by 2019-2024. Achieving these

changes requires strong leadership. The role of the

Government Chief Information Officer will be

crucial. The public sector will also be working more

collaboratively with industry to harness private sector

expertise.

6 CONCLUSION

Religious services are a basic need for religious

people and have been guaranteed by law, therefore

religious services are carried out by upholding the

principles of justice and anti-discrimination,

including minority groups. Religious services

primarily related to filling religious identity on

national identity cards or ID cards and the right to

worship and the establishment of places of worship

especially for minority religious groups are still acute

problems. Improving services requires a new strategy

to cut barriers to improving services to minorities.

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