Gus Dur, Megawati endorse anti-discrimination drive

Gus Dur, Megawati endorse anti-discrimination drive

JAKARTA (JP): Moslem leader Abdurrahman Wahid said on Friday
that religion, love and nationalism were capable of dividing
people if they were practiced without humanity.

Speaking at the launch of an anti-discrimination movement at
his residence in South Jakarta, the chairman of Indonesia's
largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) said that
religion must not take up an "excessive portion" of a nation's
life.

"To eliminate discrimination in Indonesia, we should not let
religion take up an excessive portion of our life as a nation,"
said Abdurrahman after announcing the establishment of the Anti-
discrimination Movement (GANDI) which groups activists from
various religious and ethnic groups, including Chinese-
Indonesians.

"Religion has its own place, but humanity is even more
important," he said, adding that he would be proud if, when he
died, people wrote in his epitaph: "A humanist died here."

Activists present included Harun Hajadi from Ciputra
Development Group and Anton Supit, who chairs the Indonesian
Footwear Association, lawyer Frans H. Winarta, and Moslem
scholars Mustofa Bisri and Said Agil Siradj from Nahdlatul Ulama.

Chairwoman of the splintered Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who happened to be visiting Abdurrahman,
expressed her support for the movement.

Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, said the movement should
observe its namesake Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy on humanity.

"He was a man with a noble soul, who sacrificed his life for
his people," said Abdurrahman, who has been in poor health for
some time.

Megawati said she too respected Mahatma Gandhi's principles,
his respect for humanity and his non-violent struggle for the
Indian people.

"The PDI never use violence in dealing with others, we are
anti-violence," she said.

Abdurrahman concurred and expressed his expectation that the
movement would embrace humanity to help others, regardless of
their ethnic and religious background.

Anton said the most important task for the movement was to
campaign against discrimination.

"Every minority group, no matter how small, can contribute and
enrich the country," he said.

The movement will also work to "identify and analyze"
discriminatory laws and regulations and submit their findings to
the government.

The group also plans to push the government to ratify
international conventions against discrimination and will
encourage it to pursue policies which support equal rights in the
community.

Finally, the movement will promote the values of anti-
discrimination by encouraging "open" public dialogues.

Leo Suryadinata, an associate professor at the National
University of Singapore said last month that Chinese-Indonesians
make up three percent to four percent (six to eight million) of
Indonesia's population of 202 million.

However, Leo pointed out that the Chinese-Indonesians were not
really a minority because they were the third largest ethnic
group in the country after the Javanese and Sundanese. (01)