Differences cannot justify conflict, says President

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post/Bogor

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that pluralism had proven itself to be a blessing for the country rather than a threat to national unity.

Speaking before participants at the 14th congress of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) here, the President said that differences in ethnicity or religion could never justify conflict.

"Pluralism is not a reason for starting a conflict," Susilo said.

The President opened the congress hours after his arrival home from Vientiane, where he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

It was the second time in just three days that Susilo attended a congress hosted by a religious organization after his visit to the congress of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, in the Central Java city of Surakarta, which is still underway.

The President called on religious leaders to contribute to nation building in order to prevent conflict among different groups in the country.

Prolonged conflicts between Christians and Muslims in Maluku and the North Sulawesi town of Poso between 1999 and 2001 left thousands of people dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced. Sporadic, lower intensity violence returned to Poso recently, but has not blown up into communal clashes.

The President also gave a guarantee of justice for and an end to discrimination against minority groups in the predominantly Muslim country. Non-Muslims account for 11 percent of the country's population.

"Discrimination no, social solidarity yes," he said.

Just before he left for the ASEAN summit, Susilo told PGI chairman Nathan Setiabudi that he had asked the Minister of Religious Affairs to review a joint ministerial decree on the construction of places of worship, which Christian leaders say discriminates against minority groups.

Under the ruling, signed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1969, any plan to build a place of worship, including mosques, churches or temples, must be approved by the surrounding neighborhood.