Religions urged to play key role in development
Religions urged to play key role in development
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has called on all religions
and their educational institutions to play an active role in
building a strong spiritual foundation in Indonesia.
Soeharto said yesterday that such a foundation is vital to
accelerating the pace of national development.
"All religions constitute a national strength which is pivotal
and important in developing the nation... They should play a
common role in laying down a moral, ethical and spiritual basis
for national development," he said, while opening a consultative
meeting of leaders Protestant churches grouped in the Indonesian
Churches Community (PGI) and rectors of Christian universities.
The ceremony was held at the State Palace.
Religious leaders and intellectuals should formulate policies
and programs on human resources development necessary for the
nation's advancement.
Last month, while opening a seminar jointly organized by five
religious-based intellectual associations, the President called
on all religious communities to forge cooperation among
themselves, rather than merely promoting tolerance.
The five intellectual associations concerned were FCHI
(Hindus), ICMI (Moslems), ISKA (Catholics), KCBI (Buddhists) and
PIKI (Protestants).
Yesterday, Soeharto asked that the associations to follow up
on the seminar's conclusions and disseminate them in their
respective religious communities.
He said that, while it was not easy for religious communities
and intellectual organizations to forge cooperation, the
government would keep its role in this to a minimum.
"Any interference by the government and other religious
communities of a religious group's internal affairs would
certainly be wrong and would create new problems," he said,
adding that freedom of religion was the most fundamental human
right.
The President said Indonesia's religious communities and the
government should work hand-in-hand in national development.
"There had been a national consensus that development is aimed
at developing our people. This means that the fruits of national
development must be enjoyed by all layers and groups in society:
children, youth, adults, the elderly, women and men, both in
urban and rural areas," he said.
PGI Chairman Sularso Sopater said after the ceremony that the
prolonged internal rift plaguing Satya Wacana Christian
University in Salatiga, Central Java, has come to an end.
"The internal rift at the university has been solved after the
opposing parties agreed in principle to resume learning
activities under the mediation of a five-member team set up by
the university's founding churches," he said.
The rift, which began in 1992 over the election of the
university's rector, reached a peak with a violent protests on
the campus last month. Several of the university's lecturers have
been dismissed during the conflict. (rms)