Tuesday 28 July 2015

When the Minorities “Colonize” the Majorities (Agus Putra Gowa)



It is said that Indonesian Muslims are the most in the world. However, great in number does not guarantee their freedom, especially in terms of working. Muslims are big in numbers but weak in quality. It is usual to see muslims work to the non muslim in any job field. The employers who are often non muslims often force their employees to apply their rules in which they are contradict with Islam rules especially in terms of wearing hijab.
I write this essay based on my wife’s personal experience and any other facts which are availabel around us. My wife is a teacher assistant in one of pre-school and kindergarten in Makassar. This school is led by a chinese couple who are non muslim. One of the most stricted rules is the prohibition of hijab during the class. As a matter of fact, all female teachers (including my wife) have to take off their hijab in the classroom. This prohibitive rule is applied due to the order of the school center in Singapore. All teachers must follow the rules unless they will lose their job.
Another example could be seen in some department stores. No hijab is allowed. Either the female employees are hijabers or not, in fact they have to work without wearing hijab. It seems that they are undercontrolled by the employers who take their freedom in terms of applying religion rules. These phenomena have already happened for years, But it is like usual case. People (women in this case) tend to accept the job due to the lack of vacancies. Some women let themselves take off their hijab in order to apply the rules of an institution and obviously to get a job.
If we look at the points above, the case is about getting a job. To find a job, people tend to follow the rule whether it is good or not. In my point of view, the role of the government must be powerful to warn the employers who ban the use of hijab. We have already got the liberty, but indeed some other people are still colonized by others. We muslims are majority but we are colonized by those who have money. Our Government are mostly muslims but they do not have maximum efford to deal with this case.
To conclude, Muslims are majority, but they have no power against the minority. Muslim employees in Indonesia are still colonized by those who have much money. They are capitalist who can control the government. As a matter of fact, muslims (especially hijaby muslimah) work undercontrolled and ruled by their boss.      

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