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US-Indonesia council aims to tackle 'intolerant movements'
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Wahid Foundation director Yenny Wahid speaks during the launch of #PositionOfStrength in cooperation with Twitter Indonesia. (Antara/Arindra Meodia)
T
he US-Indonesia Council on Religion and Pluralism will tackle intolerant movements within Indonesia, the council’s co-chair has said.
Yenny Wahid said it was hoped the council could develop new initiatives to boost relations between the two countries and help create a culture of tolerance.
"We will involve members of intolerant groups in all activities initiated by this council," said Yenny in Yogyakarta on Thursday.
The executive director of the Wahid Foundation was speaking during the council's two-day conference, which ended on Thursday. Yenny and Jihad Turk from the US were appointed as co-chairs of the council.
Turk said the US and Indonesia were similar because they both acknowledged pluralism and tolerance. The difference is that in Indonesia, Muslims constitute a majority and Protestant Christians are a minority. By contrast, in the US, Muslims are a minority while Protestant Christians represent a majority, he went on to say.
"We can share our experiences in enhancing pluralism," said Turk, who is also president of the Bayan Claremont Islamic Graduate School.
He further said the tolerant form of Islam in Indonesia, which was different from the Islam in the Middle East, needed to be known by people across the globe.
"The tolerant form of Islam in Indonesia should be adopted as a good model for the rest of the world," said Turk.
Muhamad Ali, a lecturer in religious studies at the University of California Riverside, said Indonesian people ought to know that religion flourished in the US, even though the country has a secular constitution.
There are 7 million Muslims in the US, or around 2 percent of the country’s total population.
"Islam has grown rapidly in the US," he said. (ebf)
