"The departure of President Susilo Bambang Yudhohono to a UN General Assembly session provides a good moment (for him to speak of) the insult to religion," SMC Chairman Syahganda Nainggolan said here on Saturday.
He added that Indonesia, as the world`s largest Muslim country, needed to take the initiative to convey the message for inclusion in a UN resolution so that the world would be freed from defamation of religions and religious related conflicts.
"This is urgent for the sake of respect to freedom of religions and to a peaceful world," he said.
Thus, he noted, the conflict due to insults to religions, which often take place, such as religious defamation in the form of film, cartoon, text and other forms, would not continue to flourish in the future.
He said that Muslim countries saw that defamation of religions was an insult to human dignity.
Therefore, the president, who is to attend a UN General Assembly meeting, should fight for the passage of an anti-religious defamation resolution.
President Yudhoyono left here for New York on Saturday to attend the 67th session of the UN General Assembly.
The President will attend the opening ceremony and later speak as part of the general debate during the session.
The Indonesian leader, the Liberian president and the British prime minister will co-chair the first-day`s meeting of the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Earlier, international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana also expressed the same hope.
He said that Yudhoyono, who is on a visit to New York, must convey the message of Muslim concern regarding the excessive attitude of the West in using freedom of expression.
"President Yudhoyono must utilize his visit to convey the concern of Muslim countries. The governments of Western countries should not be excessive in using the expression of freedom that insults Islam," he said.
He added that even though security in western countries was not disturbed, in Muslim countries such expressions disturbs security. "Even, it has caused many people to fall victim."
Hikmahanto said if the expression of freedom would cause disturbances to international security, then international security should be given priority.
"The culprits of blaspheme must face legal processes in order to create legal deterrents so that the culprits or other parties would not repeat the same deeds," he said.
(A014/INE/H-YH)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
