Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh's Religious Affairs Office has moved to distance itself from its controversial decision to prevent the barongsai, or Chinese lion dance, from being performed during commemorations for the 2004 tsunami by the Chinese Buddhist community in Banda Aceh last Sunday.

"We never banned it," office head A Rahman TB told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

"But for Aceh there needs to be an introduction. We need to determine the right time when it can be performed in Aceh, because it's something new and should first be introduced to the people.

"The [Buddhist commemoration] committee understands that this is to maintain interfaith harmony in Aceh, which so far has developed very well."

Rahman said that the committee had issued an official statement signed by Yuswar, its chair, and Erlina, its secretary, to declare that they had never said the religious affairs office had "banned" the barongsai performance.

Semantics aside, requests for permission to stage the traditional dance as part of official remembrance ceremonies for the Dec. 26 disaster were reportedly rejected a number of times by the Religious Affairs Office.

Speaking on Wednesday, Yuswar said he dared not comment further and considered the controversy closed. He said he issued the retraction, "So as not to complicate the matter."

Yuswar said the committee agreed to recant their original claims after a storm of debate emerged on the Internet over the issue. "But there was no pressure or intervention from the Aceh Religious Affairs Office for us to make the statement," he said.

"We can't let the issue compromise the good harmony we have so far enjoyed."

Yuswar said religious affairs officials had not overtly banned the barongsai, "But from the statement made by the head of the office to the press on Sunday, we could draw the conclusion."

"Basically barongsai could not be performed," he said.

The committee had also met with Banda Aceh's mayor and police chief, neither of whom saw the barongsai as an issue.

On Sunday, Rahman told reporters after the prayer session by Aceh's Buddhist community at the Ulee Lheue mass grave for those killed in the 2004 tsunami, that the barongsai had to first be introduced to the people because it had not been performed in Aceh before. The performance, he said, was not allowed "for the sake of interfaith relations."

"There has never been any religious conflict in Aceh. People of different religions live in relative peace and harmony," he said. "Isn't it better to maintain this than allow something that is bad for the people?"

Evi Narti Zein, executive director of the Coalition of Aceh Human Rights NGOs, said the effective ban on the barongsai performance constituted a violation of freedom of expression and had no legal or religious basis.

"This is a very foolish thing to be done by Aceh's Religious Affairs Office, because there is no law or religious ruling on this," she said, adding that Acehnese of Chinese decent were Acehnese people too.

Evi said the marginalization of minorities had the potential to upset Aceh's good interfaith relations much more than any dance.