Intolerant

The seeds of intolerance are reflected in the fact that there are still students and teachers
who think the Student Council Chair should come from the majority religion, leaders must
be of the same religion, choose friends of the same religion or ethnicity, and still choose
not to wish happy holidays to people of different religions. Thus, quoted from
kompas.com.

The research was conducted using the case study method with respondents from high
school/equivalent students, teachers, and principals of two public high schools and two
private high schools in Salatiga, Central Java and Singkawang, West Kalimantan. The
study was conducted between July-September 2016.

However, the research results show that the majority of educational environments in the
two multicultural areas studied are quite tolerant of differences. This is because those
who do not agree that religion is important in choosing leaders and associations, the
number is relatively high.

"In choosing the Student Council Chair, around 20 percent doubted or agreed to choose
from the majority religion or ethnicity. And more than 40 percent of students doubted and
agreed to choose community leaders who were of the same religion or ethnicity," said
Research Center for Research and Education, Ministry of Education and Culture, Nur
Berlian Venus Ali, as contained in kompas.com.

For example, to the question, should the OSIS chairman be chaired by students from the
majority religion, most answered disagree with details: 36.3 percent strongly disagreed;
42.5 percent disagreed; 13.1 percent are undecided; 6.3 percent agreed; 1.9 percent
strongly agreed.

Study based on a 2015 survey

Meanwhile, in answering questions regarding the convenience of being led by someone

with the same religion, most of the respondents answered disagreeing with the details:
namely 16.8 percent strongly disagreed and 34.8 percent disagreed. While 19.3 percent
agreed and 3.7 percent strongly disagreed. As many as 25.5 percent said they were
unsure. Thus quoted from Tribun news.

Research conducted by the Center for Education and Culture Policy Research
(Puslitjakdikbud), Research and Development Agency, Ministry of Education and Culture
(Kemendikbud) also found that there were still students who tended to reject the Student
Council Chairperson who had a different religion.

The research background is based on a 2015 Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace
(SIDP) survey which showed public high school students who did not conform to
nationalist values. "This attitude includes 8.5 percent agreeing that the basis of the state
is replaced by religion, and 7.2 percent agreeing (existence) of the ISIS movement."
The Ministry of Education and Culture is struggling to suppress intolerance practices

Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy explained that his ministry is trying to
suppress intolerance practices in the school environment by being required to carry out
activities aimed at building a sense of solidarity and tolerance among fellow students.
He also asked all Heads of the Education Office to closely supervise all student activities
outside of school.
ap/vlz (tribunnews,kompas)