An Indonesian government agency apologized Thursday for prohibiting women on the flag-bearing team from wearing the hijab for the Independence Day ceremony held by the government, an order that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo revoked a day earlier after it was widely criticized.
The government body, Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP), had issued the order in January, but it became widely known only this week after photographs and reports of an event showed some women on the team without the Muslim head covering in some photographs, but with it in others.
BPIP’s mandate is to promote the Muslim-majority nation’s state ideology of Pancasila – including the motto “Unity in Diversity,” which is meant to demonstrate tolerance in the multireligious and multiethnic country.
The agency’s chief, Yudian Wahyudi, said on Thursday that the flag-bearing team’s members who wear the hijab can don them during the Independence Day ceremony this weekend on Aug. 17. The team’s name is Paskibraka.
“BPIP issues a sincere apology to the entire Indonesian public regarding the recent news reports on the removal of hijabs by female Paskibraka members at the national level in 2024,” he said in a statement.
“Paskibraka members who wear hijabs will be allowed to perform their duties without removing them during the flag-raising ceremony on Independence Day in the new capital, Nusantara.”
Jokowi had on Wednesday reversed BPIP’s January order after many Muslim groups and citizens criticized the earlier hijab prohibition meant to be observed during the Independence Day ceremony and the team-announcement event before that.
The presidential Chief of Staff Moeldeko, who goes by one name, communicated Jokowi’s views to the media on Thursday.
“According to the president, it is important that we honor the beliefs of the participants. I think that’s what needs to be considered,” he said.
The issue became controversial after reports from Tuesday’s team-announcement event caught the attention of some Muslim groups and members of the public.
They said preventing the women from wearing a hijab violated freedom of religion and reflected a mindset where religion should have no space in the public sphere.
BPIP’s chief Yudian Wahyudi on Wednesday denied allegations that the agency had forced female Paskibraka members to remove their hijabs during the selection event.
The no-hijab rule did not exist in previous years. Irwan Indra, deputy secretary general of the Indonesian Paskibraka Alumni Association, said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Irwan said that of the 76 members of Paskibraka this year, 38 were women, of whom 18 wore hijabs.
For Amnesty International Indonesia, prohibiting the hijab contradicted the nation’s principle, “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika,” which means “Unity in Diversity.”
The state should support and respect diversity, including the physical expressions of religious identity, said Usman Hamid, the group’s executive director.
“Even if it is only for two occasions…what part of banning the hijab reflects ‘Bhinneka’?” Usman asked as he used the Bahasa Indonesia word for diversity.
“Don’t misuse Sukarno’s name. If he were alive today, he would not allow such narrow nationalism,” he said.
Indonesia’s founding President Sukarno, who went by a single name, is credited with crafting the state ideology.
The earlier hijab prohibition order, said one analyst, had been the result of a particular viewpoint that was gaining currency among members of the government.
“Some sections are directing a narrative, which that implies that adhering to Pancasila and being nationalist comes with keeping religion at a distance. Religion and the state must be kept separate. And unfortunately, these sections are close to power at this time,” he told BenarNews.
“There is a faction in the government that is against the role of religion in the lives of people in Indonesia.”
Another analyst, Al Chaidar, from Malikussal used stronger words to criticize the government.
“There is indeed growing Islamophobia within [the members of] the current regime. This is what resulted in the ban on headscarves for the flag-raising team,” he told BenarNews.
“The secular officials feel disturbed by the symbolic power radiated by hijab fashion.”
He was referring to the head covering becoming a stylish accessory for Muslim women in recent years — for some it conveyed that wearing a hijab was a choice and not a religious diktat.
Ahmad Luthfi Assyaukanie, a Paramadina University lecturer, said the hijab-wearing issues had nothing to do with choice and had become a political tool.
“The hijab has become a matter of politics, arrogance, and widespread stupidity,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
“Whether they are clerics, politicians, or attention-seeking professors, they all prioritize defending the hijab. Everything else comes second.”
According to him, some activists are doing women a disservice by linking the headscarf to freedom of expression and constitutional right.
“They never consider that mandating the hijab for women effectively prevents them from competing fairly in the real world. The real world is a world without the hijab. The hijab is religious attire,” he wrote.
“If you want to compete in the real world, you must follow its normal rules. Don’t change the rules! Don’t speak of freedom while perpetuating discrimination of your own making.”
