Reading & Writing Arabic
Feb 16th, 2009, in News, by Patung
Reading and writing in Arabic is a must for civil servants and village heads in Bogor.
The Regent of Bogor in West Java announced recently that employees of the Bogor Council are required to read and write in Arabic, to the point where they will be qualified and able to lead five-daily prayers. suaramerdeka
Banner image from Rachmat Yasin’s website – “Rachmat for the Muslim community, God willing”.
The ruling applies to all Muslim city employees of at least Echelon II rank.
H Rachmat Yasin, who is from Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP) and ran for office in coalition with Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-P), says he made the new regulation because he felt obligated to reward the support of Muslim clerics for him:
They put their trust in me to lead Bogor, I’m committed to doing what is necessary to keep up the good work that clerics have done.
Rachmat Yasin says that many public servants are uneasy about having to lead prayers and that in the beginning some of them had to be forced, but overall:
It’s turning out well, nowadays employees are busy learning how to read the Quran.
Rachman hoped that employees would learn to see their new duty as a joy instead of something onerous.
The policy will shortly be applied to village heads in the regency. In future any person who seeks the position of village head will be required to demonstrate ability to read the Quran in Arabic.
Elsewhere in Indonesia similar policies are applied in Aceh, West Sumatra, and South Sulawesi.
Meanwhile the regent says his administration is gearing up for a new attack on social ills, primarily prostitution, with the Bogor-Parung route and Puncak areas to be targeted.
12 Comments on “Reading & Writing Arabic”
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Rama Treiz says:
Silly government people why don’t they have their civil servants and village heads learn a useful language like English, or something like that? Indonesia please stop being a bunch of wahhabist-wannabies for God sake. 🙁
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funny says:
We should just asked the wahabis to colonize us or declare that we are no longer an independent, democratic nation but a province of any country as long as they are wahabis.
I can’t believe that some people actually believe this nation is going somewhere……
Anywhere but up I suppose.
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oigal says:
More tame arab pets. Still at least he makes no pretence at representing all the voters his region…
Still you see why the Dutch referred to the Indonesians as the easiest to rule of all their colonies..
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PrimaryDrive says:
Well it says that the regulation only applies to moslem employees.
But one can still say that a regulation like this is discriminative; because it applies to most, but not to all. Therefore it is against the constitution. But it seems that nobody care enough to make a legal case out of it.
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Mbak Sri says:
is there anyway we can dismantle this country, ya know.. like when we get damaged ikea product. oh didnt work, dismantle and get a new one
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Hmm….
Come to think of it, this regulation is more dangerous (!!) than just being discriminative.
It can be made a tool to block moderate moslems from occupying important posts; because for them the regulation applies, and you can expect that their arabic tend to be worse than those from pesantrens. Meaning that the regulation leans more towards the moslem traditionalists.
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schmerly says:
Yes the old religious rot is setting in, and spreading like a cancer, look at the other areas in Indonesia with the introduction of barbaric sharia law, soon you can say goodbye to democracy, unless the moderate Moslem’s do something before it’s to late.
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Andrew says:
Oh like there’s not much else to do…. or maybe that’s right, there’s really nothing else to do for civil servants in their daily lives.
By the way, reading and writing Arabic is one thing, but understanding it is another.
I think the latter is more important, but as usual – characteristically Indonesian – they focus on the wrong ones… which is why we’re in a very deep shit. -
Paparisa says:
Regulations like this will spread throughout Indonesia and will only fuel ‘separtism’ and revolts in christian and moderatly islamic regions like Maluku, Papua and probably Bali, Kalimantan and Minahasa.
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Mike Oxblack says:
God can only speak Arabic of course…
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Rad says:
OMFG….
I haven’t been in Indo for only 3 years and we go down the toilet this fast?Like, seriously, they can sujud sampe jidatnya benjol but if they keep up with corruption there is NO way we can be prosperous and free from “social ills”
Well hell, I think the regent of Bogor himself is ill!
Wahnsinn!!
Comment on “Reading & Writing Arabic”.
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I thought indonesia is a secular nation.
If the parliament does not curtail this, then it will only spread. Like what happened to the jews in germany in the thirties.
Initially, they have praying rooms, then a mosque, and soon the whole government department will be turned into a religious institution. Very few will dare to challenge the religious authorities, and this will undermine democracy.
Challenge the religious hypocrites before it is too late brothers. When you belong to a religion, you are blinded to the wrong doings and evil deeds.
Promote peace and righteousness. A just society, uninfluenced by religion will be better for all.
Remember, Moses challenged Pharoah, who was a priest.