Post by Reason on Jul 24, 2013 12:00:49 GMT -5
On May 30, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, the leader of Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue and founder of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, plans to give the World Statesmen Award to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The award is given annually to world leaders who support the foundation’s mission to promote tolerance and respect for human rights. Previous award recipients include Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But this year’s choice is bizarre. Not only has Yudhoyono not fought intolerance in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and home to millions of religious minorities, he has actively courted Islamist political parties and granted them key Cabinet positions. He appointed as government minister a politician who blames Christians for their persecution and routinely calls for heterodox Muslim sects to be outlawed. As a result, acts of violence against religious minorities have risen dramatically during his eight years in office. Christian churches in West Java and North Sumatra have been forced to close due to discrimination in the issuing of building permits. Minority Shi’ite Muslims have been forced from their homes by militant Islamists and made refugees in areas where they lived peacefully for decades. Most alarming is the militants’ 10-year campaign of violence against a heterodox Muslim sect called Ahmadiyah; vigilante groups have destroyed Ahmadis’ homes, set fire to their mosques, forced their relocation, and murdered Ahmadi Muslims with the tacit and sometimes outright approval of the government. Just this week, Yudhyono’s religious affairs minister oversaw the forced conversion of 20 Ahmadi Muslims.
“It would be hard to choose a more inappropriate person to whom a religious tolerance organization would give an award,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. ”The simple fact is this: Persecution of minority Christian, Shia, Ahmadiya, Bahá’í has been worsening under President Yudhoyono’s watch, in particular in the last two years.”
But this year’s choice is bizarre. Not only has Yudhoyono not fought intolerance in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and home to millions of religious minorities, he has actively courted Islamist political parties and granted them key Cabinet positions. He appointed as government minister a politician who blames Christians for their persecution and routinely calls for heterodox Muslim sects to be outlawed. As a result, acts of violence against religious minorities have risen dramatically during his eight years in office. Christian churches in West Java and North Sumatra have been forced to close due to discrimination in the issuing of building permits. Minority Shi’ite Muslims have been forced from their homes by militant Islamists and made refugees in areas where they lived peacefully for decades. Most alarming is the militants’ 10-year campaign of violence against a heterodox Muslim sect called Ahmadiyah; vigilante groups have destroyed Ahmadis’ homes, set fire to their mosques, forced their relocation, and murdered Ahmadi Muslims with the tacit and sometimes outright approval of the government. Just this week, Yudhyono’s religious affairs minister oversaw the forced conversion of 20 Ahmadi Muslims.
“It would be hard to choose a more inappropriate person to whom a religious tolerance organization would give an award,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. ”The simple fact is this: Persecution of minority Christian, Shia, Ahmadiya, Bahá’í has been worsening under President Yudhoyono’s watch, in particular in the last two years.”
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