Franz Magnis Suseno acknowledges
Dipo’s remark

Catholic priest Rev. Franz Magnis Suseno SJ said he could comprehend Cabinet secretary Dipo Alam’s latest remark — that he was a narrow-minded person who had created bad publicity about the country because of his protest of the US-based Appeal Conscience Foundation (ACF)’s plan to award President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“It is his right to give statement as well as to defend the President regarding this matter,” Franz said as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday.

Franz had sent a letter to the ACF criticizing the plan to award Yudhoyono for upholding religious freedom within the country during his presidential tenures. The reverend said that Yudhoyono, in his eight-an-a-half-years as President, had never apologized to the religious minorities whose rights were taken away for various reasons.(dic)