"The government has not been able to protect Indonesian citizens as mandated in the 1945 Constitution,"Jakarta (ANTARA News) -A group of interfaith leaders has called on the government to immediately end its deviations from the 1945 Constitution by creating justice and national prosperity.
"Today so much violence is committed in the name of religion, and freedom of speech and press freedom are still being ignored by the government and human rights violations with impunity are still continuing," the group`s spokesman, Shalahuddin Wahid, said when reading out its statement to newsmen here Monday evening.
He said the government`s policies had indeed led to economic growth of up to 5.8 percent but in reality many pockets of poverty still existed in different regions in the country.
In the amended 1945 Constitution it is stated that Indonesia is a law-based country but the fact is it is not. He said the government had also not paid attention to victims of serious human rights violations and had failed to protect migrant workers treated badly in various other countries.
"The government has not been able to protect Indonesian citizens as mandated in the 1945 Constitution," he said.
He said if the government ignored the problems it meant the government had been lying publicly (in the sense that it was not doing what it said it would do or there was a gap between its statements and the realities).
On the same occasion Rev. Andreas A Yewangoe who is the chief of the Indonesian Communion of Churches said what the religious leaders presented was a warning for the government that something had gone wrong in the administration.
"We wish to remind the government strongly (about it). Religious leaders are not politicians, but were only conveying complaints from the people," he said.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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