Indonesian Clerics Say Nuclear Plant Forbidden

JAKARTA – A group of Indonesian Muslim clerics have declared that a nuclear power plant due to be built in Central Java is religiously forbidden because its danger outweighs potential benefits, a scholar said on Monday.

Asia-Pacific’s only OPEC member has been trying to promote the use of alternative energy in an effort to reduce its reliance on oil and cut energy costs, and plans to build the nuclear power plant on the Muria Peninsula in Central Java.


But the plan has proved controversial, particularly given the predominantly Muslim nation suffers frequent earthquakes.

Muslim scholars from the local branch of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Islamic group, met in the Central Java district of Jepara at the weekend to discuss the issue.

They agreed that the plant would endanger the lives of people in the area and was therefore forbidden under Islam, said Ahmad Rozikin, one of the scholars.

Reuters