B

ogor Mayor Bima Arya said he participated in the Global Mayor'€™s Conference, themed Unity in Diversity, in Florence, Italy, over the weekend, to learn about maintaining diversity, not to receive any award.

News had been circulating on social media that Bima received an award for diversity and netizens were quick to contrast the news with Bima'€™s recent decision to ban public events relating to the expression of Shia Islam in the city of Bogor. Bima dispersed Shiites from celebrating Asyura last month.

Many said that he did not deserve to attend the conference because Bogor still had a good deal of work to do regarding religious freedom.

The mayor said the event, promoting peace and diversity, was attended by 100 mayors from around the world.

'€œI was invited by the committee of the event through networking. I decided to come because it was a good opportunity for me to learn from the experiences of other cities and to initiate cooperation in various sectors,'€ he said.

Bima said that during the four-day conference, the mayors discussed the issue of diversity and how to maintain it. '€œI told them about the history of Bogor as a city that has always been able to maintain a diverse culture and people,'€ he said.

He said there were no religious riots in Bogor and all religious symbols like churches and mosques existed peacefully side by side.

Bima admitted, however, that the city still had '€œchallenges'€ to maintain its diversity.

'€œMaintaining diversity is not an easy job. I always open dialogue with any party that has a problem,'€ he said.

Besides the recent ban on Shia-related celebrations, Bima has also received criticism for the protracted dispute surrounding the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin.

Human rights proponents have argued that Bima has failed to resolve the issue despite his promise to do so during his campaign.

The GKI Yasmin dispute started when then Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto issued a decree freezing the permit to build the church in the Curug Mekar subdistrict in 2008 after several hardline Islamic groups protested against it.

In 2010 the Supreme Court ordered the Bogor administration to revoke the decree. However, days later, Diani disobeyed the court and revoked the permit altogether.

The public had high hopes that when Bima, a National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, was elected as the new mayor of Bogor in 2011, the issue would be solved.

His background justified the hopes of many. He studied at Monash University in Melbourne and Australian National University in Canberra and worked as a lecturer for Paramadina University, which was founded by the late Nurcholish Madjid, a respected Muslim figure who promoted pluralism.

Bima has said that he is still trying to solve the issue. '€œWe are focusing on finding a solution to the issue. I do not want to abandon the parishioners. I want them to get a proper place to pray,'€ he said.

He said, however, that he could not detail the development of the case. '€œI plan to find a solution before this year'€™s Christmas,'€ he said.

Regarding the Asyura case, Bima said that he had shut down the Asyura public celebrations out of security and safety concerns.

'€œThis was a hard decision to make but I must protect my residents,'€ he said.

He added that it was issued in an emergency situation after he received information from police officers that there was a threat surrounding the proposed celebrations.

Bima said he would let the public judge and give their opinion of him. He hoped, however, that they would see the problem from a broader perspective. '€œI am open to any discussion,'€ he said.