No 'hijab ban' for Paskibraka members on I-Day: govt

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Presidential Secretariat has clarified that female Muslim members of the national flag-raising troop (Paskibraka) can wear their hijabs during the Independence Day ceremony in Nusantara on August 17, 2024.

Secretariat chief Heru Budi Hartono made the statement to assure the public after the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP) earlier admitted to ordering female Muslim Paskibraka members to remove their hijabs while on duty.

"We asked female (members of the Paskibraka) who use hijab to continue using it (while on duty)," Hartono said here on Wednesday.

He further said that Paskibraka members did not remove their hijabs during the Independence Day ceremony dress rehearsal in Nusantara on Wednesday morning. BPIP did not report to the Presidential Secretariat regarding its instruction to female Paskibraka members to take off their hijabs, he added.

The BPIP, which manages the Paskibraka troop, also affirmed that hijab-wearing flag-raisers can continue wearing their hijabs during the Independence Day ceremony, he said.

The decision to restrict hijab use drew criticism from members of the public, who noticed that all hijab-wearing female Muslim Paskibraka members did not wear a hijab during their induction ceremony on August 14.

BPIP chairperson Yudian Wahyudi earlier justified the decision to instruct Paskibraka members to remove their hijab citing uniformity, despite past Paskibraka batches being permitted to wear hijab on duty.

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"We must understand that Paskibraka members should be uniform," Wahyudi said.

He also told the troop members that they would be required to take off their hijabs only during the induction and flag-raising ceremonies.