Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A caucus of lawmakers has criticized the controversial civil registration bill, saying it harmed the rights of marginalized groups and their political interests.
Caucus leader Nursyahbani Katjasungkana told a press conference here Monday that the bill was discriminatory and did not protect the rights of minority groups.
"The bill could exert discrimination against minority groups and poor families, especially the homeless, as many people embracing traditional beliefs will not be registered because they can not list their faiths on identity cards, while those having no identity cards will be ignored," she said.
Nursyahbani, a legislator with the National Awakening Party (PKB), said the bill was against the principles of good governance since it required the population to be pro-active in its registration instead of leaving the task to the state.
"In developed countries, the population must register with the state only for social security programs so as to get compensation from the government," she said.
She said the bill also failed to protect citizens' privacy as it related to both population administration and civilian registration, and could be used negatively by certain groups.
Nursyahbani said that if the bill was passed into law it could still be annulled if the affected groups brought it to the Constitutional Court for review.
Evi K. Sundari, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said many lawmakers and social groups were disappointed with the House of Representatives' working committee for deliberating the bill in closed-door meetings.
"The bill is scheduled to be brought to a House plenary session on Dec. 7 for endorsement, but the public does not know about it and what progress the working committee has made in responding to its contentious issues," she said.
Committee chairman E.E. Mangindaan said the closed-door deliberation of the bill was in line with the House's internal rulings, but added that his side was open to input from the public.
The bill has also sparked strong opposition from the Anti-Discrimination Movement, the People's Legal Aid Institution, the Consortium of Civil Registration and the Commission for Child Protection, which have argued that it is against the Citizenship Law and the bill on the elimination of discrimination.
The civil registration bill only recognizes citizens who follow one of the six official religions – Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.
They are allowed to list their faiths on identity cards, while those with traditional beliefs, along with street children and the homeless are left unregistered.
Saidah Sakwan, another PKB legislator, urged the working committee to align the bill with other relevant laws, including the Citizenship Law.
"They should consult with the former committee which prepared the Citizenship Law and the special committee deliberating the bill against all forms of discrimination before the civil registration bill is endorsed by the House," she said.
Mangindaan said there was no reason for the state to ban non-official faiths from being listed on ID cards because freedom of religion was guaranteed by the Constitution.