Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said on Friday that he objected to a Bengkulu municipal bylaw currently under deliberation that would require all residents of the capital of southwest Sumatra’s Bengkulu Province to attend Muslim midday prayer gatherings every Friday.
“If it is only a call advising people to go to the mosque to pray, or to go to the church for the Christians, it’s fine,” he told the Jakarta Globe. “But it’s not fine if they issue a bylaw which carries sanctions. They don’t have the authority, as religious affairs are under the authority of the central government.” [Jakarta Globe] Read more
