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the task to deal with Islamic education, Affairs, Education and Culture, and were regulated by the issuance of
the organization of religious courts, the the Interior) no. 6/1975 was a turning
performance of the hajj and various other point in Islamic education. It required
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related religious matters. Educational that the pillars of Islamic education,
affairs, justice, and the pilgrimage had called madrasah, were made equal to
been serious concerns since the era of the education levels in public schools.
the Islamic kingdoms in the archipelago As a result, the madrasah’s curriculum
and the Dutch colonial administration. was converted into 70 percent general
The Dutch colonial administration subjects and 30 percent religious
supervised Islamic education in the instruction. This meant the beginning of
Dutch East Indies through the Regulation the modernization of Islamic education,
on Islamic Education of 1905, which which was more strongly affirmed by
contains detailed and strict rules about the issuance of the Law on the National
licensing and religious teachers. Education System (UU Sisdiknas) in
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Therefore, even though Islam was the 1989. In this Law, the educational levels
religion of the indigenous population, of public schools and madrasahs were
Islamic education was always put in a equalized. This equality became even
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marginal position in contrast to Christian cleared by the statement that madrasahs
education which the Dutch East Indies are an essential part of “public education”
Government supported. Policies characterized by Islam. After this period,
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taken by the independent Indonesian modern Islamic education spread to many
government up until the 1960s had regions in Indonesia. Thus, the issuance
failed to change Islamic education’s of the 2003 National Education Law was
marginal position, let alone to make it a no more than the affirmation of the new
central issue. This was, as noted earlier, position Islamic education had acquiredin
because of the government’s impartiality the context of overall human development
towards Islamist groups. in Indonesia.
In the 1970s, when Mukti Ali was The Religious Courts are also rooted
the Minister of Religious Affairs, the in the long history of the nation ever
government policies for Islamic education since the time of competing Islamic
began to show some changes. The sultanates and during the colonial era.
release of the Joint Decree of Three After the Dutch had conquered the
Ministers (the Ministers of Religious Islamic sultanates, religious courts
418 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives
Law no. 3/2006 which regulates religious
Staatsblad no. 152/1882 on Religious courts’ judicial technical coaching,
Courts and Islamic law. From then organization, administration and finance,
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on, the government’s intervention in the significance of religious courts’ within
religious matters became manifest. the legal frame of Indonesia became
The next step was to place judges and even more clear. Hence, they became the
religious courts under the authority primary venues for Indonesian Muslims
of the Hoofd voor Islamitische to formally and legally resolve Islamic
Zaken (Head for Islamic Affairs) and legal cases, but they werenot to issue
supervised by an advisory board in normative Islamic regulations. 34
the name of the governor-general, as The demand for legal reform that had
Snouck Hurgronje had arranged. started in 1998 finally affected the
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Despite the colonial administration’s religious courts. In 1999, the government
recognition, the religious courts’ passed Law no. 35, which is a correction
judicial authority remained constrained. to Law no. 14/1970 on the Distribution
Its function highly depended on of Judicial Authority. The 1999 Law
the policies the advisory board is the fundament for the mediation of
recommended to the governor general. the unification process of all judiciary
The firmness of the Indonesian institutions under the Supreme Court,
government about the position of religious both as seen from the technical side
courts became apparent in the New as well as from its administration, up to
Order era by the issuance of Law no. financial matters. The third amendment
14/1970 that divided judicial authority of the 1945 constitution was followed
into General Courts, Religious Courts, by the issuance of Law no. 4/2004
Military Courts, and Administrative which further confirmed the unification
Courts. To position of religious courts of judicial authority. The law states that
was further strengthened by Law no. “judicial power is conducted by the
1/1974 on Marriage, followed by several Supreme Court and all judicial bodies
implementing regulations. In 1989, with that fall under its jurisdiction, i.e. the
the promulgation of Law no. 7 which was general courts, religious courts, military
several times amended up to 2009 to courts, and state administration courts,
give religious courts a clearer legal status and the constitutional court”. Therefore,
and authority. Besides, the issuance of judicial institutions in Indonesia are
Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 419