'Tolerance the essence of Asian identity'

Susanto Pudjomartono, The Jakarta Post, New Delhi

The essence of Asian identity is tolerance of differences and not human rights abuses, said President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Wednesday.

In her memorial lecture at the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in New Delhi, Megawati called on Asian nations to dispel the existing negative perception adopted by the West of "Asian values".

"It is not to our advantage to let them conclude that 'Asian values' are associated with a reluctance to accept the concept of human rights.

"We are obliged to convince ourselves and the whole world that there exist other 'Asian values', namely tolerance. It is more conducive for human rights to work and can be developed into a more modernized form of democracy," she said.

She noted in her lecture that tolerance of diversity was in fact "a noble value we inherit from our own culture".

In the case of Indonesia, Megawati said, the spirit of tolerance laid the foundations for national stability.

People from different races, ethnic backgrounds or religious groups should not only accept the presence of others but also be willing to cooperate in order to materialize their common objectives.

Equal and fair treatment to people in a heterogeneous community will certainly promote the spirit of tolerance and strengthen the nation state.

The President was confident that a nation state as a modern institution must become a sociopolitical umbrella embracing all people, however culturally diverse.

It is on the basis of such an understanding, that the founding fathers of Indonesia built their vision of a nation state.

They did their utmost to manage cultural diversity, in such a way that every member living in the community could feel and behave as part of a new and modern society, she said.

"Such diversity has shaped and become part of our identity. With such an identity, we can build upon our ideals to develop a better future," Megawati said.

Megawati, nevertheless, warned that racial, ethnic, religious diversity could easily become a negative factor in times of economic difficulty, when every nation struggles to gain access to diminishing economic resources. Desperate nations, she said, tend to act irrationally and provoke violence.

"Such a narrow sentiment will only worsen the situation and even complicate attempts to come up with solutions," she said.

To that end, she said nation states in Asia should, on the one hand, respect the inherited diversity that built their identity.

On the other hand, Asian nations should also adhere to a rational attitude, as is the characteristic of a modern nation that appreciates human equality.

She also called upon Asian nations to work harder to make the continent a terror-free zone by institutionalizing, practicing tolerance and imposing fair treatment to all by maintaining democracy.

"We should invite everyone and every government in the world to list and identify efforts to deal with terror as well as in addressing the root causes," she said at her lecture, which was also attended by Sonia Gandhi, the widow of the late prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi.