Literary experts offer unity concept

Literary experts offer unity concept

MEDAN, North Sumatra: At least 150 literary experts began a national conference in the North Sumatra capital of Medan on Monday, offering cultural approaches to prevent the country from breaking apart.

The three-day conference of the Indonesian Literature Association (Hiski), entitled Indonesian Literature and the Problem of Cultural Pluralism, was attended by several literary experts from the neighboring nations of Malaysia and Brunei.

The participants said the forum will issue a recommendation to help the diversely-populated country maintain unity among the people by promoting local cultures.

In his opening speech to the conference, Hiski chairman Mursal Esten said threats of disintegration in the provinces of Aceh, Riau and Papua (Irian Jaya) were due to the government's failure to adopt the strategy of preserving traditional cultures of respective regions.

"East Timor will not have seceded from Indonesia if the government used such a cultural strategy," he added. -- JP