JAKARTA (UCAN): A smartphone app, Kitab Suci Injil Minangkabau (The Bible in Minangkabau Language), that allows members of the Indonesian Minangkabau ethnic group to read the Bible in their own language was removed from the Google Play store following protests by the governor of West Sumatra, Irwan Prayitno.
The governor complained to Information minister, Johnny Gerard Plate, in late May, demanding the app be removed from the digital distribution service.
In a letter, which went viral on social media over the weekend, Prayitno said “the people of Minangkabau object to and feel very uncomfortable with the application” and that it undermines Minangkabau culture.
The majority of West Sumatra’s population are from the Minangkabau ethnic group, who are mostly Muslims.
Prayitno also demanded that similar applications not be made available in the future.
West Sumatra Communication and Information Agency head, Jasman Rizal, confirmed that the app had been taken down. He said critics of the move should try to understand the culture of the people of Minangkabau.
“It means that the people of Minangkabau are Muslims and if there are people who claim that they are Minangkabau but do not adhere to Islam, they are customarily not recognised as Minangkabau people,” news portal Kompas.com quoted him as saying.
Halili Hasan, research director at the Jakarta-based Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, criticised the removal.
“The Holy Bible in the Minangkabau language … is not against the law or the constitution and, in fact, is a good initiative to develop interfaith literacy,” he said in a statement.
“The Communications and Information Ministry should have rejected the West Sumatra governor’s demand,” he said.
Hasan said the demand set a bad precedent, adding that the app should have been seen as a digital innovation.
“The application deserves appreciation as it is an effort to build interfaith understanding so that prejudices, fears and threats that result from a lack of it can be reduced,” Hasan said.
