Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – The intolerance issue came closer to home on Monday with a petition from some residents of Lenteng Agung subdistrict in South Jakarta demanding the Jakarta administration dismiss their newly installed subdistrict head for not being a Muslim like the majority of the residents.

Representatives of the residents submitted a list of 2,300 names and 1,500 photocopies of their IDs to City Hall as a show of support for her dismissal.

"Most of us and our previous leaders are Muslims, so it doesn't make sense that we have a non-Muslim leader now. [Having a Muslim leader] is a must," said resident Naser Nasrullah.

They argued that having a non-Muslim subdistrict head was inconvenient, as the subdistrict held many religious activities in which the head was expected to be involved.

"There are 22 mosques, 59 mushollas and hundreds of majelis talim [Koran recital groups] in our subdistrict, which all actively hold religious activities. For example, during last Ramadhan we held a series of mass prayers, but the residents did not invite the subdistrict leader because they were aware that she was not a Muslim. It would have been awkward for everyone," Rusli, deputy leader of community unit (RW) 2, said. "Even having a female leader was already awkward for us because she would not be able to join numerous events held in mosques."

Lenteng Agung subdistrict head Susan Jasmine Zulkifli, a Protestant, was among 415 local leaders inaugurated in June by the governor after passing a series of tests in an open-call selection. The representatives acknowledged that they were not considering the leader's performance.

"We didn't evaluate her performance because this is not about that. This is merely about the residents' comfort," Naser said, emphasizing that they weren't demanding the governor fire her. "We wish that she would be transferred to another subdistrict that is more heterogeneous."

The representatives said they would stage a protest should the governor fail to accommodate their request. On the issue, Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said only, "If they are not fine with the situation, then they have to make it fine."

Farouq, 53, who lives near the Lenteng Agung subdistrict office, begged to differ with the petitioning residents. "She [the subdistrict head] has been appointed as the new subdistrict head from the latest open-recruitment," Farouq said. "I don't see her religion as a problem, because the most important thing for the residents is that she carries out her job well."

Intolerance cases in the country are on the rise, with neighboring West Java the province with the most incidents. Among the high-profile cases are the closure of a church in Taman Yasmin, Bogor, and two others in Bekasi.

A survey by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) late last year found 15.1 percent of respondents had an aversion to people of different faiths, up from 8.2 percent in 2005. In January, a study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) revealed that 68.2 percent of respondents would reject people of a different faith building a place of worship in their neighborhood. Wahid Institute reported that religious intolerance cases in 2012 stood at 274, up from 267 in 2011. In 2010, the institute recorded 184 cases and 121 cases in 2009.

During the campaign period, Deputy Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who is a Christian, had been targeted by some Muslim communities who rejected having a leader of a different faith. (ian)