TheJakartaPost
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Letters: Preserving pluralism?
Your editorial "For Muslims Only" (The Jakarta Post, June 28) should be taken seriously by anyone wishing to be elected president in this country
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Your editorial "For Muslims Only" (The Jakarta Post, June 28) should be taken seriously by anyone wishing to be elected president in this country.
So far, I have been very disappointed by the quality of the debates between those aspiring to be the next president and vice president. I'm also very disappointed by what appears to be their irresolute and "safe" stances regarding the brutal persecution of religious minority groups such as Ahmadiyah by organizations like the Islamic Defenders Front.
Furthermore, their silence on the oppression of Christians in Depok by prohibiting them to build churches, or the torching and destruction of places of worship other than "the accepted Muslim" ones, and countless other similar cases in which the current government has abysmally failed to defend Indonesian citizens whose human rights have been brutally trampled underfoot is appalling.
Not to mention the disgraceful failure to grant justice to the victims of the Lapindo Brantas disaster. Our country needs truly dedicated and brave saviors, and it needs them right now.
We Indonesians do not need hypocritical, self-serving leaders who, in spite of their honeyed promises, in reality do not care about the welfare of the Indonesian people.
Our country's best interests will not be truly served by leaders who, in obvious cowardice and eagerness to save their own skins, deliberately refrain from strongly acting against injustices that are happening right before their own eyes.
We urgently need leaders with powerful character who are truly committed to God, who are brave enough to see what needs to be done to make a truly modern, mature, pluralistic and safe Indonesian society and who dare to speak out bluntly against those engaged in intimidating and oppressing fellow Indonesian citizens.
We need leaders who have the courage to immediately act against and punish those who deliberately engage in grievous wrongdoings, even if they claim to be Muslims and wear Muslim attire. For it is universally known that the person who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. Furthermore, our current and future leaders should realize that every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Tami Koestomo
Bogor, West Java
