ABSTRACT
Before 1965, religion was an optional or noncompulsory subject in Indonesian schools. According to the Education Law of 1950, religion classes were to be carried out selectively, depending on the age and intellectual level of students; students could elect whether to take religion classes or not, and religion was made a nondetermining subject in student grade promotion. At the time, this was seen as a middle way between Muslim demands for compulsory religion classes and secular and Christian opposition to the idea (Kelabora, 1976; Mujiburrahman, 2006). In 1965, the affirmation of religion as a compulsory subject was contributed to by the political rivalry between the military and the communists between 1960 and 1965. The communists wanted to abolish religion classes from schools. The military, in opposing communist ideas, invited Islamists to promote religion as a compulsory subject. The failed communist coup of 1965 gave the military a stronger position in Indonesian politics, and the idea of making religion classes compulsory was eventually realised in 1965. Subsequently, the temporary People’s General Assembly issued Decree No. XXVII/1966, declaring religion classes compulsory from primary school to university. Again preceded by a hot debate in the parliament between secular proponents and Islamists, the Education Law of 1989 reasserted the status of religion as a compulsory subject in Indonesian schools (Mujiburrahman, 2006).
