Jakarta – On the heels of repetitive attacks against minority groups across the country, a high-ranking official said on Tuesday that minority groups in Indonesia did not have any legal guarantee to protect their rights.

Deputy Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview that the religious harmony bill currently discussed by lawmakers was the solution to shield minority groups from violent acts.

"Minority groups in this country need a legal basis to protect their rights. That is the reason why the bill is very crucial," he told The Jakarta Post over the telephone.

He snapped at the lawmakers for the time-consuming discussions over the bill, saying that Indonesia, which has many religious groups, needed the bill to be passed into law immediately. "We have so many bills addressing political issues to be passed into law, how come we do not have crucial regulation like this," he said.

Articles 6 of the long-awaited religious harmony bill instructed that all religious groups in Indonesia, including minorities, have the rights to be protected from any kind of discrimination.

The deputy minister also referred to a recent attack on an Ahmadiyah mosque in Tasikmalaya, West Java, on Friday last week. According to him, the 2008 joint ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah followers from spreading their beliefs might be abused by certain groups without higher regulation stipulating the rights of minority groups.

Several Ahmadi groups have been attacked by the mainly mainstream Sunni community, who considered the group heretical.

Separately, Abdul Hakim, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker on the House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs said that the bill was still being discussed by the lawmakers. (asa)