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Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesia105education. The discrimination policy is presented by the ADBpublication, %u201cFinancing of Education in Indonesia%u201d (1999). Forexample, the unit cost for upper secondary school studentsunder the religious ministry, Madrasah Aliyah (MA), is Rp185,000 (US$21.76), about Rp 4,000 from the state budget andRp 181,000 from parents. The unit cost of public senior highschools under the education ministry reached Rp 418,000, aboutRp 333,000 from the state budget and Rp 85,000 from parents.Similar discrepancies also appear in textbook distribution,teacher availability, and infrastructure. Ironically, 60 percent ofschoolchildren at madrasahs are girls, who are among the mostdisadvantaged socio-economic strata, while those in publicschools are from the middle and upper classes.As a result, almost all madrasahs are continuouslymarginalized, as the poor subsidize the rich in the way the lion%u2019sshare of government subsidy goes to public schools. So, whatcan we expect from such circumstances if not just adding topotential social tension and vulnerability in the future?The polarization gap between the education and religiousministries in dealing with national education has shown greatlessons learned. The gap between the two has graduallyimproved, and the past discrimination has changed graduallyafter the enactment of the 2003 National Education SystemLaw, which allows all children in madrasah to be treated equallyas those in public schools under the education ministry. However, this transformation process seems to haveproblems due to many overlapping structural bureaucracies atthe two ministries and other relevant agencies, both at thecentral and district levels. Madrasah transformation moves veryslowly.