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adies and gentlemen of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF), I am a Catholic priest and philosophy professor in Jakarta.

Indonesians have learned that you are going to bestow this year's World Statesman Award to our President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on his merits regarding religious tolerance.

Shame on you. It discredits any claim you make as being a morally sound institution.

How can you make such a decision without asking concerned Indonesians? Hopefully you have not made this decision in response to prodding by the people of our government.

Are you not aware of the difficulties Christians are facing in trying to attain church permits, the growing number of forced church closures or the increasing number of regulations that make worshipping for religious minorities more difficult? Have you not heard about the shameful and quite dangerous attitudes of hard-line religious groups here? President Yudhoyono's administration is doing nothing to protect religious minorities. Ahmadiyah and Shia followers have been driven out of their homes, now living in places such as gymnasiums. One cannot help but to think that Indonesia could deteriorate to conditions similar to Pakistan where each month many Shiites are killed because of religious motives.

Do you not know that in the eight-and-a-half-years President Yudhoyono has been in office, he has not said a single word to the Indonesian people about respecting religious minorities? He has shamefully avoided responsibility regarding the growing violence toward Ahmadiyah and Shia followers?

Again, who did you consult with before deciding on your award recipient? What is motivating you to bestow this honor upon President Yudhoyono? He clearly lacks any courage to protect all Indonesians. I am not a radical. I am just appalled by the hypocrisy. You are playing in the hands of those few radicals that want to purify Indonesia of all what they regard as heresies and heathens.

Franz Magnis-Suseno SJ
Jakarta