Tolerance is the key. It guides us to religious moderation.Jakarta (ANTARA) - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has said that Pancasila, Indonesia’s five-principle ideology, guarantees that the state protects people's freedom for carrying out religious activities.
He made the statement while inaugurating six places of worship for six different religions at Pancasila University, Jakarta, on Wednesday.
As the principle of the state, Pancasila is in line with the religious values upheld by the Indonesian people, Amin said.
Hence, the community must be grateful for the religious plurality in the country and maintain it since it is necessary, he added.
"If we maintain the people’s cultural diversity with right knowledge and tolerance, it will become an extraordinary national wealth, which is rarely owned by other nations," the Vice President remarked.
Encouraging tolerance is crucial for maintaining diversity in the midst of the polarity of the Indonesian people, he stressed.
By upholding inter-faith tolerance, the community can ward off any efforts to divide the nation, such as through radicalism and extremism, he added.
Related news: Amin inaugurates 6 places of worship at Pancasila University
"Tolerance is the key. It guides us to religious moderation. Thus, we are able to avoid fanaticism which can lead to fundamentalism, radicalism, and extremism," he said.
Furthermore, inter-religious harmony in Indonesia has received recognition from other countries, Amin noted.
He recalled that Sultan Faisal Al Remeithi, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Elders (Majelis Hukama Muslimin) -- an independent body of international Muslim scholars based in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates -- once paid him a visit.
During the visit, the secretary general expressed his interest in learning about inter-religious tolerance from Indonesia.
"We should be proud of it since we can maintain our tolerance," the Vice President remarked.
Hence, he said he hoped that the community will continue to maintain tolerance so that social harmony can be preserved in Indonesia.
Related news: Religious denominations in Indonesia granted equal protection: Mahfud
Translator: Fransiska Ninditya, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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