Balancing constitutional rights and institutional identity: Evidence from Muhammadiyah Universities in Eastern Indonesia

Syamsul Arifin (University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia)
Le Xuan Tung (Institute of Human Rights, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Vietnam)
Nur Kafid (Raden Mas Said State Islamic University of Surakarta, Indonesia)
Ahmad Zainul Hamdi (Sunan Ampel State Islamic University of Surabaya, Indonesia)
Khoirun Niam (Sunan Ampel State Islamic University of Surabaya, Indonesia)

Jurnal Ilmiah Hukum LEGALITY
Vol. 33 No. 2 (2025): September

This study examines the relationship between constitutional rights and institutional religious identity through Islamic Religious Education (IRE) at Muhammadiyah universities in Eastern Indonesia, in which the majority of students are Christian. Although the law guarantees students’ rights to receive religious education in accordance with their beliefs, some Islamic higher education institutions pay insufficient attention to this provision. Through interviews, document analysis, and classroom observations, this study investigates how religious education at Muhammadiyah universities is managed to balance Muhammadiyah’s institutional educational identity with the legal requirements related to students’ constitutional rights to obtain religious education that corresponds to their respective religions. The findings show Muhammadiyah’s commitment to providing religious education that accommodates students' religious diversity through an instructional approach known as Multicultural AIK. Nevertheless, more inclusive steps remain necessary, including facilitating religious education that explicitly indicates that the instruction students receive aligns with the religion they adhere to.