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resident Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono said on Sunday that there was no contradiction between Islam and democracy and Indonesia was a living proof that the two entities could go hand in hand.

“I reject the position that Democracy could not live alongside Islam,” Yudhoyono said in his keynote speech in the fourth World Peace Forum (WPC) held at the Bogor Palace on Sunday.

Yudhoyono said that Indonesia could serve as a shining example to the world that the country with the largest Muslim population could practice democracy and continue to thrive.

Yudhoyono went further to assert that Indonesia is also an examples of how to reconcile democracy and economic growth.

“Indonesia is a democratic country with the largest Muslim population and has a stable economic performance,” Yudhoyono said as quoted by Antara news wire.

Yudhoyono, however, said that there should not be one single democratic model that should serve as a blueprint for all countries in the world.

He warned that democracy could not be parachuted down from above by other countries.

“We cannot implant democracy anywhere in the world and it to work immediately. There are always local values to democracy’s universal values, be they religion, ethnicity or other identity,” Yudhoyono said.

Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, which organized the WPC said that Indonesia could serve as an example of a multicultural democracy.

“With multi-cultural democracy, we hope that it is possible to have peaceful coexistence. This should be the terms of reference for the world in the future,” Din said.

Yudhoyono and Din’s statements rings hollow in the midst of religious prosecution against minority groups in the country, groups who have had to face violent attacks from the religious majority, leading many to question if democracy had in fact been hijacked by religious fundamentalists.

The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Navanethem Pillay previously said that the government need to annul a number of regulations that she deemed discriminatory against religious minorities — or risk the country’s pluralist nature being hijacked by religious extremists.

The three-day World Peace Forum, which finished on Sunday, brought together 50 religious and political leaders, academics and journalists from 31 countries.

The event is organized in partnership with Cheng Ho Multi Culture Education Trust and Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilization (CDCC).