Aug. 20, p1



The intolerance issue came closer to home on Monday with a petition from some residents of Lenteng Agung subdistrict in South Jakarta demanding the Jakarta administration dismiss their newly installed subdistrict head for not being a Muslim like the majority of the residents.



Representatives of the residents submitted a list of 2,300 names and 1,500 photocopies of their identity cards to City Hall as a show of support for her dismissal.



'Most of us and our previous leaders are Muslims, so it doesn't make sense that we have a non-Muslim leader now. [Having a Muslim leader] is a must,' said resident Naser Nasrullah.



Your comments:



Religion and state duties are separate issues. In this century, is it not time that that sinks in?



It would appear that the main complaint is that the local 'big men' couldn't have some official big man to be present at their social gathering to make them all feel important.



John Elliott



Amazing, not even the usual lame excuses, just straight into religion and gender.



Duncan Tan



Well, in a democratic society, people have the right to say what they think as long as it's done peacefully.



But they need to be reminded that Indonesia is a secular state and all citizens ' regardless of their race, religion or gender ' have the same rights.



If these people really hate being administered by a non-Muslim, they should consider migrating to the Comoros Islands. I hear their population is 100 percent Muslim.



Albatra



As long as this petition is just people voicing their aspirations in a peaceful way, it is not a problem. However, their action contravenes the Constitution, which guarantees the same right to all citizens to become public servants.



Nurrohman Syarif



Here's the smoking gun. They don't even bother to make an excuse like 'she failed to fit in with the community' or something like that; they just headed straight into bigotry and sexism.



It makes me wonder if they would rather have a corrupt and lecherous buffoon as their subdistrict head, as long as it's a man. Oh yes, and a thick moustache would be a plus.



Mario Rustan

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