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National scene: Social gap reaches alarming level: VP
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Sunday that the country’s social gap had reached a dangerous level given the fact that the rich and the poor were predominantly from different religious groups
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ice President Jusuf Kalla said on Sunday that the country’s social gap had reached a dangerous level given the fact that the rich and the poor were predominantly from different religious groups.
“The gap in Indonesia has the potential to become a [bigger danger than in] other countries. In Thailand, the rich and the poor have the same religion. The same thing is the case in the Philippines. Both the rich and the poor have the same religion. But in Indonesia, the wealthy and the underprivileged have different religions,” he said while closing a national meeting for the country’s second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, as quoted by Antara news agency.
The meeting was opened by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last Friday.
Kalla said the wealthy in Indonesia were predominantly either Christian or Confucian while most poor Indonesians were Muslim.
Earlier, Muhammadiyah central board chairman Haedar Nashir, on behalf of his organization, awarded Kalla the title of “Father of Peace and Diversity,” for going beyond rhetoric to upholding pluralism in the country.
