REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Ahead of the 2024 general election, Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas or as he is known as Gus Yaqut delivered two special messages to the extended family of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Ministry of Religious Affairs). This was stated by Gus Yaqut during the Meet and Brief event at JCC, Senayan, Jakarta which was attended by no less than 4,000 ASN Kemenag.

First, Gus Yaqut called on each State Civil Apparatus (ASN) Ministry to be the glue of society and actively maintain the conductivities of their respective environments. According to him, ASN Kemenag should ensure that places of worship and educational institutions built by the Ministry are not used as an event for religious politicization and political provocation.

“Secondly, every ASN of the Ministry of Religious Affairs I ask to keep working optimally to serve the religious community, and not give loopholes to certain parties to discredit us and take political advantage during this campaign as a result of our negligence or neglect,” Gus Yaqut said in a press release received by Republika.co.id on Thursday (4/1/2024).

In the event, Gus Yaqut also reminded his ranks with one of the messages of the NU figure who was the Minister of Religious Affairs, KH Abdul Wahid Hasyim, that this Ministry model is essentially a middle ground between the theory of separating religion from the state and the theory of the unity of religion and state.

“Indonesia is not a secular country, it is not a religious country. In Indonesia, religion is an inspiration for the country. This is in line with my first statement after being appointed minister by the President, make religion an inspiration, not an aspiration,” said Gus Yaqut.

Then, he also recalled that he was given the task of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to conquer the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the early days of his tenure as Menag, Gus Yaqut tried to recognize and identify a number of jobs to be completed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At that time, Gus Yaqut found that the ministry had a very large work unit (satker) and ASN with a wide range of services. However, back then the community and its ASN messed with hundreds of unintegrated applications.

Early in his work, Gus Yaqut also found the ministry fostering tens of thousands of teachers who did not have a college degree. In addition, there are 50 thousand KUA for which the majority of the office conditions are inadequate.

“I saw that at the beginning of my tenure as Minister of Religious Affairs, if this ministry issue was thrown on the table, then it did not appear to be the edge,” Gus Yaqut said.

Whatever the condition, the identification of the acquired problem became the direction for Gus Yaqut to solve it. Three years on, it began to seem resolved. “Thank God, thanks to the grace of Allah SWT, the Almighty God, after our hard work together, the problems in the Ministry of Religion began to unravel,” Gus Yaqut said.

Some of those achievements, among which is the creation of the HERITAGE App. These superapps integrate a variety of applications that during the run until they exist in one hand. “It answers the public and internal needs of ASN for fast, easy, cheap, secure, and accountable ministry services,” he explained.

Second, the establishment of Cyber Islamic University. The college was established to give access to teachers who have not had a bachelor's degree, and anyone who wants to study at the college online.

There have been 3,339 students studying at the cyber campus, the majority of whom are teachers. They have obtained an undergraduate scholarship at Cyber Islamic University, IAIN Sheikh Nurjati Cirebon.

Thirdly, now there are already 1,000 more KUA that have been revitalized. “It was not only the office building that was renovated, but the HR and SOP services of KUA were improved in quality,” said Gus Yaqut.

Fourth, more than 2,000 boarding schools have already received the Pesantren Independence program. It is currently being developed in order to form a strong boarding school business ecosystem in the future. Fifth, Borobudur Temple and Prambanan Temple have become world centers of pilgrimage and worship for Buddhists and Hindus.

“Sixth, the satisfaction level of the pilgrims in the last two years of the Hajj service also falls into the category of Very Satisfactory,” explains Gus Yaqut.

Various other achievements, Halal Certification exceeded the target, achievements in the field of Religious and Religious Education were recorded a lot, and the Concord Index of Religious People increased. Various legacies of the Ministry of Religion were also embodied, for example the founding of Puspenkom, as well as the publication of Braille and Sign Language Scriptures.

“After waiting 12 years, 98,972 teachers finally received the Inpassing Decree. And God willing, soon the Tukin increase to 80 percent for the ASN Ministry of Religion was realized,” said Gus Yaqut.

“For the first time, the Ministry of Religious Affairs in 2023 is also designated as an Informative Public Body. It's an amazing milestone. We defend and improve. Disclosure of information is the mandate of the Act,” explains Gus Yaqut.

He also expressed his gratitude to the entire Cabinet of Ministers who have worked hard to realize the joint mission of serving the religious community in the best possible way. According to him, this achievement has received dozens of appreciations and awards from various agencies and institutions.

“Even so, let's not be complacent. The success we achieve should be the motivation to serve even better,” said Gus Yaqut.

In 2024, he added, there is still a lot of work to be done, especially priority and legacy programs. Therefore, he invites the entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs to remain passionate, keep working hard, constantly improve the quality of self and service, and always look for breakthroughs and innovations in service to the community.

“Let's strengthen the Ministry of Religious Affairs as a single institution from the center to the region whose performance can be an example for K/L and other institutions,” said Gus Yaqut.

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