"This conference is aimed at improving awareness and discussions in the community regarding the importance of multi-party collaboration that is based on mutual respect between religious communities," Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly stated while opening the conference here on Monday.
The International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy, held on November 13-14 in collaboration with the Leimena Institute, raises the theme of "Human Dignity and the Rule of Law for a Peaceful and Inclusive Society."
The conference is part of the commemoration of the 75th Human Rights Day.
"We place the issue of religious freedom as a very important (issue) because Indonesia is a very diverse nation," the minister emphasized.
Laoly further noted that the existence of intolerant and radical parties cannot be denied. To this end, he underscored the importance of the rule of law to guarantee and respect every citizen.
Regarding the rule of law, the Indonesian government has made efforts to strengthen regulations.
Laoly highlighted that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had recently ratified Presidential Regulation Number 58 of 2023 concerning the Strengthening of Religious Moderation.
"This regulation aims to strengthen harmony and unity between religious communities in the country," he remarked.
He also spoke about the relationship between efforts to encourage religious freedom and world peace that should go hand in hand.
As a country, with diverse cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, Indonesia actively encourages dialogue between religious believers, both at the national and international levels, to raise tolerance, respect, understanding, and empathy.
Thus, the minister is upbeat that all participants would share views and best practices to improve cross-cultural religious literacy and human dignity in the forum.
He also affirmed that Indonesia can be role model for other countries in terms of religious tolerance.
"This (conference) will continue to be useful, and we are trying to build an international community that respects religious inclusivity and religious tolerance because this program is very important," Laoly remarked while delivering a press statement after opening the conference.
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Translator: Fath Putra, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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