"The ministry of religious affairs should serve as a team leader in the front guard to develop the people`s horizons, tolerance and peace loving attitude," Dr Musni Umar, a sociologist of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), said here on Tuesday.
He said that the ministry of religious affairs which controlled wide networks up to the subdistrict level, could offset rising radicalism through religious campaigns.
Musni Umar said that in order to carry out such a function the ministry of religious affairs must be equipped with a regulation so that it could perform two jobs, namely as an agent to serve the government and as an agent to provide enlightenment to the people.
"If the ministry of religious affairs carries out these two functions plus an integrated effort with the relevant institutions to empower the people`s social economy, radicalism would be overcome," he said.
He said that the empowerment program should be done soon because many religious school graduates failed to find jobs at an institution other than at the ministry of religious affairs.
"So far, no one has provided guidance, developed and used them so that radical groups have a chance to embrace them and instill their radical and jihad doctrines," he added.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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