Tolerance is getting more costly

Tolerance is getting more costly

There is this irksome joke which goes like, Indonesians differ
from Westerners in that when the latter get up in the morning,
they think of what they have to do, while the former think of
what they have to destroy.

The joke is absolutely untrue. However, if we turn our eyes
to the destructions committed by our people, we realize there is
a grain of truth in the joke.

Social conflicts, ethnic violence, corruption which has become
even more deeply ingrained in every layer of society, destruction
of public facilities, and legal abuse are examples of how low our
tolerance is, as a nation.

That is why President Megawati's call for Indonesian Muslims
to uphold tolerance among the values should not be interpreted as
an empty rhetoric.

Megawati's call when opening the National Koran Reading
Contest (MTQ) in Palanka Raya, Central Kalimantan on Wednesday
was indeed addressed not only to Muslims, but to all the people
of Indonesia.

Since the core of democracy is tolerance and a democrat should
respect people from other groups, intolerance would be a big
problem for our nation.

In fact, our democracy appears to be attractive in its rules,
but terrible in implementation because culturally, we learn
democracy through books rather than through practice in our daily
lives.

Thus, to be tolerant, we have to ask our centers of education,
whether our schools, society and families have taught us the
importance of tolerance.

Have the school teachers, religious teachers and priests ever
sat at one table to say that all religions have similarities, at
least in developing the morality and spirituality of their
followers?

Because we hear mosques, as well as churches, frequently
reverberate with the sounds of sermons on the importance of
tolerance and living in perfect harmony, we realize that all
religions teach their followers to love their neighbors as they
love themselves. -- Media Indonesia, Jakarta