Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – Recent attacks on religious minorities in Temanggung, Central Java, and Banten should be reason enough for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to fire Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali, a rival Islamic party in the ruling coalition claims.

Fresh calls to fire Suryadharma, who chairs the United Development Party (PPP), have been made by the National Awakening Party (PKB), with a party official saying one of its top cadres, Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar, was ready to replace Suryadharma.

The two Islam-based parties have been staunch rivals in each election since the fall of Suharto's New Order regime in 1998.

Suryadharma has repeatedly condemned the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect and called for it to be banned. Its members were brutally attacked recently in Pandeglang, Banten. The onslaught, by some 1,500 demonstrators, occurred as police looked on and left three Ahmadis dead.

The Pandeglang attack was followed by religious rioting in Temanggung that saw churches vandalized and severe damage inflicted on other public and private property.

PKB lawmaker Ali Maschan Moesa said the attacks in Pandeglang and Temanggung were proof of Suryadharma's failure to implement Yudhoyono's instructions to keep order among the nation's various religions.

Ali argued that Suryadharma preferred to use informal approaches to religious disputes while clear-cut and definite solutions were necessary to resolve incidents of violence in the name of religion.

"Under Suryadharma's leadership, the Religious Affairs Ministry has become one of the weakest parts of the government. It would be best if the president conducts a re-evaluation of Suryadharma as religious minister," Ali said.

The PKB was founded by former President Abdurrahman Wahid, known popularly as Gus Dur, a former leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia. Last month however, Suryadharma gathered hundreds of religious leaders in East Java – the main support base of the NU – where they pledged their support for the PPP in the upcoming election.

PKB lawmaker Abdul Kadir Karding said on Sunday that the budget of the Religious Affairs Ministry should be re-evaluated after he accused Suryadharma of using state funds to woo clerics to join his party. The statement came on the same day the PPP announced that 23 clerics from Brebes, Central Java, had pledged to join the party following a meeting between the minister and about 3,000 clerics at an Islamic boarding school.

Meanwhile, PKB lawmaker Anna Muawanah acknowledged on Monday that Manpower Minister Muhaimin wants to replace Suryadharma should Yudhoyono decide to reshuffle his cabinet. "We leave the final decision to the president, but we are trying [to get the position]," Anna said.

The Manpower Ministry, in PKB hands, has a lower annual budget than the PPP-controlled Religious Affairs Ministry.

PPP deputy secretary general Arwani Thomafi declined comment on whether the call from the PKB had anything to do with recent moves taken by clerics to join the PPP. However, he said it was time for all political parties to start acting maturely.

"Everything should go and has gone fairly. I don't think anyone should just badmouth others and discredit them," he said. "What we should start doing is to stop calling for people to be replaced. Let's talk about solutions," he added.

Arwani also claimed Suryadharma had performed well, doing what the president asked him to do. He urged all members of the coalition to support one another and not attack a particular party merely to acquire one or two positions in the government.

Hendardi, from the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, said the president should not appoint a religious affairs minister from a political party. "Someone from a political party would never be objective in taking care of religious affairs because of all the political interests," Hendardi said.