"Closer to the general election or regional election seasons, politicians of all of the political parties send out religious symbols and figures to the public in order to seek their votes," he said on Tuesday during a press conference after the opening of the international conference entitled "Religion in Public Spaces in Contemporary Southeast Asia" in Jakarta.
According to Hidayat, religion should respond to politics morally, intellectually, socially, and ethically, but not in practical way.
"There is religion as a pillar of civilization, and to achieve this we need to use the university as a compound of intellectuality to build this civilization," he said.
Regarding the organizing of the international conference of "Religion in Public Spaces in Contemporary Southeast Asia", since Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, Hidayat said interfaith dialogue should be given a new perspective to assist Islam in maintain a path of modernity and rationality.
He further said the perspective of putting Islam on this path made it possible for its worshipers to think in a variety of ways about their religion.
"Indonesia, as the largest Muslim populated country in the world and should be a driving force to promote diversity with harmony in Southeast Asia regions," he said.
On the other hand, Ambassador of Canada Mackenzie Clugston said the interfaith dialogue in Southeast Asia regions was important in order to maintain pluralism among ethnic and religious groups in this region.
"The purpose of this conference is to exchange rational objective approaches about the various faiths in Southeast Asia, focusing on Islam and other religions to pursue accommodative and peaceful dialogue and also to strengthen the partnership of ASEAN-Canada," he said.
Clugston further said Canada is one of the countries that are very concerned about promoting religious freedom as supported in the Human Rights Charter of the United Nation.
The international conference, "Religion in Public Spaces in Contemporary Southeast Asia", was jointly held by the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta, the ASEAN Foundation and Syarief Hidayatullah National Islamic University Jakarta, for two days over March 13 and 14.
The event was also organized in celebration of 35 years of dialogue partnership between Canada and ASEAN, and 60 years of Canada-Indonesia diplomatic relations.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
