Jakarta – Religious leaders are widely regarded as playing a significant role in promoting the government's family planning program, religious activists say.
Former Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Hasyim Muzadi said religious leaders could play an important role in promoting the family planning program, as had been proven during the New Order era.
The interim results of the 2010 census shows that Indonesia's population has reached 237.6 million, jumping by 32 million people over the last 10 years. Demographers have warned that a population boom is looming, and that a breakthrough in family planning efforts is needed.
"In the past, ulemas gave their full support to the government [family planning] program. They helped it run very effectively by promoting the idea that contraception did not violate religious teachings," Hasyim said.
Controversy over birth control emerged after 1998, when several Islamic groups rejected the idea, he said.
The ulemas were once involved in campaigns conducted by the National Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) at grass roots levels, Hasyim said.
However, their role largely depended on the government and their success diminished along with changes in the government's policy on family planning in 1998, he said.
The role of the ulemas, working together with the BKKBN, should be revitalized, he said.
Ignas Tari of the Commission for Family at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jakarta, said church leaders might make a positive contribution to the family planning program because the church supported the idea of "family welfare".
"However, we disagree with artificial birth control methods," he said, adding that the church, in this case, chose natural family planning methods, such as by limiting sexual intercourse to times when women are not fertile. This, he said, was because the church upheld the right to life.
Ignas said such methods could be as effective as using contraception, citing East Nusa Tenggara, a province where the majority of the population is Catholic, as a successful executor of the method.
Ignas said the government had recognized the method in the family planning program. Religious leaders, especially priests, play a significant role in promoting family planning among the faithful, he said.
"Every couple who gets married must attend a marriage preparation course facilitated by priests and doctors. During the course, priests teach them about natural family planning methods," he said.
In addition to this, Ignas said, priests also provide marriage counseling sessions, which would also include consultation about natural family planning methods.
Lieus Sungkharisma from the Buddhist oranization Gemabudhi said there was not much controversy on birth control among Buddhists, since religious leaders also played an indirect role in promoting the family through disseminating its religious doctrines.
"Our religious leaders suggest that we plan everything in life and this also includes forming a family," he said, adding that marriage was also not essential in Buddhism.
According to Lieus, another essential doctrine is related to the essence of life itself – that everybody born on earth undergoes suffering. (lnd)