Indonesia Drops Plan To Remove Religion From ID Cards

Today's Jakarta Post reports that earlier this month, an official of the Indonesian Home Ministry said that consideration was being given to dropping religious identification from the country's national identity cards. Opposition to the move, however, has caused the plan to be shelved at least temporarily. Indonesia recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Others must choose one of these six faiths if they want a valid ID card. Human rights groups have long criticized this requirement as discriminatory.