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Officials angry at critics who oppose award for SBY
Close aides of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have blasted critics who said that the President did not deserve the World Statesman Award due to his failure to guarantee religious freedom for members of minority groups
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lose aides of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have blasted critics who said that the President did not deserve the World Statesman Award due to his failure to guarantee religious freedom for members of minority groups.
Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam said that Yudhoyono's critics, including respected Catholic Priest Frans Magnis Suseno, had made false claims about the President.
'I have proof that the President has made many comments at Cabinet meetings [about defending minorities]. So, Magnis was wrong when he said the President had never paid attention to minorities,' Dipo told reporters.
Dipo went on to attack Magnis, saying that he could not claim to represent the minority groups in the country.
'Why should [the ACF] ask for Magnis's permission to honor the President?' he said, referring to the US-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) which plans to honor Yudhoyono with the World Statesman Award in recognition of his contribution to religious freedom.
Magnis, in his open letter published by The Jakarta Post on Friday, said he opposed the ACF's decision to honor the President because he had done 'nothing to protect religious minorities'.
Magnis also said that Yudhoyono does not deserve the award because he has allowed a 'growing number of forced church closures' and that the 'Ahmadiyah and Shia followers have been driven out of their homes and are now living in places such as gymnasiums.'
Dipo said that Magnis does not have enough understanding about the conditions of minority groups.
'The conflicts involving Ahamdiyah followers, for example, have been going on since the Japanese occupation. And he brought up the Yasmin church problem as if it represented the whole problem,' Dipo said, referring to the closure of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin by the Bogor municipal administration.
He then derided Magnis for his views: 'This is a big country with a population of 250 million. So, if you judge Indonesia based on only what you have seen on TV, I am sorry to say, I think you have a problem with your eyesight,' he added.
Also on Tuesday, Andi Arief, special assistant to the President for disaster mitigation and social assistance, issued a harsh statement against Magnis, calling him a 'provocateur.'
'In his letter, Magnis said that conflicts led to the deaths of some Ahmadiyah and Syiah followers and that 'one can't help but to think that the situation could deteriorate to the point where we resemble Pakistan, where each month many Shiites are killed because of religious motives.' I think this is more of a provocation than a well-intentioned statement,' he said.
To back up his claim that Yudhoyono had done more for minority groups than his predecessors, Andi said that data from the Religious Affairs Ministry showed the growth of places of worship of non-Muslims exceeded those of Muslims.
'So Magnis' statement was not only inappropriate, but also baseless and could be considered 'black propaganda',' he said.
A study by the SETARA Institute showed that the number of intolerant acts had increased by about 30 percent between 2006 and 2012.
