Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin inaugurated on Thursday the Pontianak State Catholic Institute (STAKatN) in Kubu Raya, West Kalimantan, saying the institute would hopefully support the spirit of unity in the diverse nation of Indonesia.

He acknowledged that it had taken quite a long time to award STAKatN Pontianak the status of a state institute because of bureaucratic procedures at the local level.

“I was once feeling guilty when I saw that all religions in our country, except Catholics, had state institutes. It made me feel quite concerned,” said Lukman.

The minister said he hoped the inauguration of STAKatN Pontianak would be followed with the development of similar institutions in other areas across Indonesia. This was because religious education was important to help Indonesia maintain unity among its diverse population.

“Religion is not something we should debate in the public sphere. It is its values that we must implement,” said Lukman.

Earlier, STAKatN Pontianak was a private institute called the Santo Agustinus Pastoral Institute (STP), which began to operate in 2006. Former STP Santo Agustinus head Andreas Muhrotien said the presence of the institute was initially a solution to fulfill a shortage of teachers for Catholic religious education.

“We have taken a long journey in our process to make it a state institute. Thank God, it was realized today and this is a historic moment because this is the first Catholic state institute in Indonesia,” said Andreas.

In the last 10 years, STAKatN Pontianak has produced 1,250 bachelors and 31 masters while 703 people have participated in a program to make their school degrees equal to a bachelor degree. (ebf)