A

fter wrapping up his state visit to Timor Leste on Wednesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will continue on to Bali, where he is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the 2014 United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC) global forum, which brings together political leaders, the private sector and civil society to foster cross-cultural dialogue and understanding.

Despite repeated attacks against Indonesia'€™s minorities, the government, which often claims to promote diversity, will host the sixth UNAOC forum '€” the first in Asia Pacific '€” on Aug. 29 and 30.

Yudhoyono will make his keynote speech during the opening session on Friday, which will be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) secretary-general Iyad Ameen Madani.

Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs, Teuku Faizasyah, said Indonesia appreciated being the first Asia-Pacific country to host the forum, which also aims to improve relations within and between Western and Muslim societies and address polarizations and tensions.

'€œChoosing Indonesia as the host for the first UNAOC forum in the Asia-Pacific region can be interpreted as the international community'€™s appreciation of Indonesia'€™s success in being a model of harmony between its own diverse ethnic, racial and cultural groups,'€ Teuku said in a press release on Tuesday. '€œWhile there are still conflicts in the world, the UNAOC forum is a reminder of the importance of continuing efforts to build mutual understanding between civilizations.'€

In its World Report 2014, however, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Indonesian women and religious minorities faced heightened discrimination in 2013 as a result of the Yudhoyono administration'€™s failure to enforce human rights protections.

'€œUnless Yudhoyono takes decisive action in the final months of his presidency in 2014, his legacy will be marred by his failure to defend the rights of all Indonesians,'€ HRW deputy Asia director Phelim Kine said.

HRW also said that Indonesia should amend or abolish hundreds of local bylaws that discriminated against women and religious minorities. It found that Sunni Islamist groups, such as the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), had frequently threatened or attacked religious minority communities with impunity.

The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has also reported that both the country'€™s central and local governments had passed 60 new discriminatory regulations in 2013, in addition to 282 similar rules already on the books. These include 79 local bylaws requiring women to wear the hijab or head scarf.