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RI, US religious groups team up to tackle poverty
Participants at an interfaith forum in Jakarta have pledged to work closely to end poverty and enhance education while trying to help people cope with climate change
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articipants at an interfaith forum in Jakarta have pledged to work closely to end poverty and enhance education while trying to help people cope with climate change.
The joint declaration came at the conclusion of the three-day forum Wednesday, attended by religious leaders from the United States, Indonesia and other Asian countries.
The leaders expressed their commitment to creating partnerships on a wide range of issues to allow better understanding about religious diversity in the region, still gripped by radical movements that have in recent years often devolved into violence.
The forum was also attended by representatives from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Japan.
Thailand and the Philippines, both with significant Muslim minorities, have for decades been engaged in quelling insurgencies in their respective southern provinces, dominated by Muslims.
Deadly attacks in three provinces in the south of Thailand have claimed thousands of lives since the 1970s, while the Philippine government is fighting Muslim rebels in the southern island of Mindanao.
Indonesia has faced years of inter-religious strife in places such as Poso in Central Sulawesi and Ambon in Maluku. Only recently has the government managed to bring peace to these areas.
Jean Duff, executive director of the Center for Interfaith Action on global poverty, said the joint declaration would be the basis for civil groups to enhance their communication and understanding about Islam in Indonesia and Asia, which differs greatly from its Arab roots.
Indonesia is home to world’s largest Muslim population, and has been held up by the Western world as a model working democracy, particularly in light of many Arab countries’ dismal records on human rights and freedom of expression.
Jakarta’s increased leverage on the world stage is attributed partly to moderate Muslim groups that also engage in social projects such as education and household economy empowerment.
The country’s biggest Muslim organizations, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, run a host of programs aimed at bettering the livelihoods and standards of living of grassroots communities.
“Interfaith dialogue should not be self-absorbed, that the discussion is the religion per se, but rather how it can contribute to people’s lives and be inclusive for all,” Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Monday on the sidelines of the forum’s opening session.
He added the interfaith dialogue would establish a partnership between Indonesia and the United States in various fields that would allow people from different backgrounds to benefit.
US delegation head Pradeep Ramamurthy said Washington was looking forward to working together with Indonesia’s religious groups as they had the capacity to “mobilize and deliver” the necessary action to resolve a wide range of issues.
“President Obama has spoken frequently about the importance of listening to one another, even to those groups with different perspectives, as well as building bridges between people and leading partnership and action,” said Ramamurthy, the senior director for global engagement on the White House’s National Security Council.
“This is vital in a world where we share more challenges than at any other time in human history.”
Scholars and religious leaders pledged to engage the community in raising awareness about the causes of poverty, while empowering youth and women in the fight against it.
They also agreed to educate the community about the importance of climate change and protection of minority groups.
The recommendations will be presented to the governments of both countries.
