The Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, offered the SG of WEA a zoom audience, to congratulate him to his new position as SG. He thanked Schirrmacher for the longtime cooperation with moderate leaders of Humanitarian Islam in Indonesia and invited him to visit the country and the government, as soon as the rules around covid19 would allow it. Schirrmacher was accompanied in the call by the Special Envoy of WEA to Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Johnson, and by the General Secretary of Nahdlatul Ulama, Yahya Cholil Staguf, and leaders of Humanitarian Islam.
Yaqut Cholil Qoumas
Yaqut was born in Rembang Regency in 1975 and completed his basic education there. He studied sociology in the University of Indonesia. Yaqut founded the Depok branch of the Indonesian Islamic Students Association (PMII) and joined the National Awakening Party. Between 2001 and 2004 he served as the chairman of the party’s Rembang branch. He was elected to the municipal legislature following the 2004 elections and the following year he was elected vice-regent of Rembang, where he served until 2010.
Yaqut was elected as a chair in the Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor) in 2011. 2015, he was appointed as a replacement to Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri in the People’s Representative Council, as Dhakiri had been appointed as Minister of Labor and Transmigration in Joko Widodo’s cabinet. On 27 November 2015, Yaqut was elected as General Chairman of GP Ansor. He was reelected to the legislature following the 2019 election.
On 22 December 2020, it was announced that Yaqut had been appointed as Minister of Religious Affairs in Joko Widodo’s Onward Indonesia Cabinet. After he was sworn in on 23 December, he made a statement vowing to protect the rights of Shia and Ahmadiyya communities in Indonesia, which face persecution in Indonesia. He additionally described his intent to prevent the spread of Islamic populism in Indonesia.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaqut_Cholil_Qoumas
https://fisip.ui.ac.id/en/profile-of-yaqut-cholil-qoumas/
https://www.idc-cdi.com/recognition-of-mr-yaqut-cholil-qoumas-appointment-as-indonesias-minister-of-religious-affairs/
Recognition of Mr. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas’ appointment as Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs
Photos: Thomas Schirrmacher/WEA.
