REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Muhammadiyah, one of the biggest Islamic organizations in Indonesia, has urged President-elect Joko Widodo to not dissolve the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

"The ministry of religious affairs must continue to exist, and its name must also not be changed as it is part of the country's history," Associate Chairman Yunahar Ilyas stated on Wednesday.

The professor of Islam of Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah University emphasized that the ministry was required to tackle all issues related to religious affairs in the country and to prevent the country from becoming a secular state. Rumors concerning the dissolution of the ministry surfaced after Joko Widodo announced the structure of his future cabinet on Monday evening.

While announcing the 34 ministries he would form as part of his cabinet, Joko Widodo did not mention the name of the religious affairs ministry but mentioned a ministry of waqaf, hajj, and zakat (alms) affairs instead.

"If the ministry changes its name, then how it will deal with marriage, religious education, and other affairs? To us, the name of the religious affairs ministry must be retained," noted Yunahar Ilyas.

Muhammadiyah would not raise any objection if the ministry would later be held by someone from Muhammadiyah or Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), another biggest Islamic organization in the country.

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