Ministry of Religion Invites ASN to Reject Identity Politics

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Head of the Ministry of Religion’s Research and Development and Training Agency (Kemenag), Amien Suyitno, called on all state civil servants (ASN) to reject identity politics. He conveyed this when opening the Religious Moderation Strengthening Training at the Ministry of Religion Education and Training Center Building, East Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten.

“In this first collaborative training between the Ministry of Religion and the TNI and Polri for Batches I, II, III and IV, I would like to convey Gus Men’s message about the need to reject identity politics,” he said in a statement obtained by Republika.co.id, Wednesday (23/8/2023).

It is said that identity politics must be rejected, because it is very dangerous for the harmony and harmony of Indonesian society.

However, he emphasized that identity is still important. This is because everyone certainly has their own identity, whether position, occupation, gender group, or religion and ethnicity.

“Why should we reject identity politics? When it comes to the importance of identity, yes. What, then, are we to deny? That is identity politics that is used for political purposes, “continued Suyitno.

According to him, inherent identities such as ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA) certainly cannot be rejected. Because, all of that is congenital. However, if it is used for political purposes, then there is no debate to reject it.

He reasoned that identity used for political interests is dangerous. Moreover, identity politics with religious nomenclature is even more dangerous.

Not only that, he also said that he had a lot of experience showing that this could cause disharmony between families.

This Professor of UIN Raden Fatah Palembang added that disharmony between families can still be found in society. This is the result of differences in political choices in the 2019 presidential election.

“They haven’t move on. This is real and we must prevent this,” he said.

In this context, the Head of the Research and Development and Training Center of the Ministry of Religion considers that training to promote religious moderation is very important. Because it is stated in the 2020-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the strengthening of MB must target all ministries/agencies (K/L), including the TNI and Polri.

“That is why we need to sit together related to strengthening Religious Moderation,” Kaban said in front of 120 training participants consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Religion, TNI and Polri.

Suyitno said, MB internalization is not enough just through a religious approach. This is because extremism is not only dealing with theological issues alone.

In it, there are issues related to religion, sociology, maybe even several issues can be integrated, such as inequality. Therefore, the approach cannot be singular.

Suyitno hopes that the participants will be serious and disciplined in participating in this training. The Training to Strengthen Religious Moderation was attended by 120 participants, consisting of 30 elements from the TNI, 30 elements from the National Police, and 60 people from the Ministry of Religion.

The Ministry of Religion representatives came from the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Religion DKI Jakarta, Banten and West Java, as well as a number of Ministry of Religion offices in surrounding districts/cities.

A number of speakers were presented, including the Head of Research and Development and Training of the Ministry of Religion Prof. Amien Suyitno, the Working Group on Religious Moderation Alissa Wahid, and the 2014-2019 Minister of Religion Lukman Hakim Saifuddin.