Indonesia Stresses Harmony Among Adherents of Different Faiths

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian government, at the 7th World Islamic Forum held in Yazd, Iran, from May 24 to 25, underscored the importance of adherents of different faiths living in harmony, the Indonesian embassy in Tehran said.

In Indonesia`s experience, to maintain such harmony, the government, religious leaders and indigenous stakeholders must adopt a common stand to prevent any kind of social unrest, Indonesian Ambassador to Iran Octavino Alimudin stated in a press statement released on Friday.

"To ensure harmony among adherents of different faiths, we need a forum where adherents of different faiths can communicate, and come up with quick and integrated reaction to any incident," he pointed out.

In addition, transparent and impartial law enforcement is also needed to restore security, he added.

The ambassador observed that the media play an important role in creating a conducive situation in a country that has a variety of faiths and cultures through balanced and responsible reporting.

The embassy expressed the hope that such a forum will result in concrete benefits to the Islamic community in the future.

Meanwhile, Director General of Political and International Studies at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Mostafa Zahrani, hoped that the World Islamic Forum can infuse a new spirit to the efforts to create a symbol and a model useful to the Islamic world.

The World Islamic Forum is a platform aimed at studying various ideas related to the Islamic world and the future world civilizations, based on historic and strategic values.

The forum, which brought together 120 delegates from 40 countries, was themed, "Strategic Communication: Reference Values, Institutions and Individual."

ANTARA