Indonesia minister says no one can force Muslims to wear Christmas gear

Comments come after a fracas regarding another official's stance on Christmas apparel.

A hotel worker dressed as Santa Claus descends with a rope to give presents to children ahead of Christmas in Surabaya last year

Jakarta:  While stopping short of issuing an official ban, the minister of religious affairs in the predominantly Muslim country of Indonesia said non-Christians must not be forced to wear Christmas symbols or costumes.

"Each of us is called to be mature and wise and not to demand or to force someone to use the clothes or symbols of a religion which they don't adhere to. A Muslim should not be forced to wear a cross necklace around their neck or a Santa Claus' hat only to respect the Christmas Day. Similarly, a non-Muslim woman should not be forced to wear a headscarf only to respect the Eid al-Fitr," Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said in a statement received by ucanews.com on Tuesday evening.

Saifuddin delivered his remarks after Machasin, an official from the ministry's Directorate of Islamic Guidance, told media on Monday that Muslims were allowed to wear Christmas symbols as long as it was for the sake of business. Machasin mentioned employees at shops that were asked by their employers to wear Christmas symbols as an example.

His statement was quickly condemned by Muslim leaders, including Anwar Abbas from Muhammadiyah, the country’s second largest Muslim organization.

"Muslims still cannot wear the Christmas symbols [even if] it was for business purposes”, Abbas told ucanews.com, calling Machasin’s comments out of line.

"As an academic, he is free to talk about his field. But when he was in bureaucracy, he must follow the rules of bureaucracy," said Anwar. “Bureaucrats task is to serve the people, help people, not make a problem.”

On Wednesday, Machasin clarified his remarks to ucanews.com by saying that he was not forcing Muslims to wear Christmas symbols.

"I made the remarks in the context of the reporter [who] asked me whether the Muslims who sell Christmas attire are allowed to wear it while they sell. I replied, ‘Yes it does not matter’. It was not concerning their faith. It was only a matter of attire ", he told ucanews.com.

"But clearly, I'm not imploring Muslims to wear it,” he added

Fr Antonius Benny Susetyo, who is secretary of the National Council of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, said that there was no problem with Machasin’s statement.

“It is not about the substance of Christmas”, he said.

“So, I think everyone could just wear it. It’s a different case when we talk about Christmas rituals, such as the Mass and other liturgical ceremonies which indeed are just for Christians", he said.

Source: ucanews.com