According to the awarding NGO the award is given to President Yudhoyono as the representative of Indonesia which has shown progress in democracy and strong commitment in promoting peace.
However activists protest the award saying that the president is not yet successful in solving violence against minority in Indonesia.
"I understand that there are protests from activists about this award. However let`s look at this as an opportunity for Indonesia to work harder in the future," the president said.
Yudhoyono emphasized his visit to Sweden and New York starting May 27 to June 2 is not for the purpose of accepting the award but to chair a meeting of High Level Panel for Post MDGs 2015 and hand over the meeting`s draft of recommendation to the United Nations` Secretary general Ban Ki Moon.
Earlier a religious organization figure, Benny Susetyo, urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reconsider his decision to accept an award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (AFC).
"The President had better reflect and reconsider his decision to accept the World Statesman Award 2013," the secretary of the Commission for Religions and Faiths of the Indonesian Bishops` Conference said.
He said if the President finally decided to accept the award the event must be used as a momentum for the government to be more serious in the handling of cases of intolerance and human rights violations in the country.
"If the award is accepted and it will not be followed by improvement in the handling of violent cases the award would only draw international community`s cynicism on Indonesia," he said.
Political ethics professor of the Driyarkara Philosophy High Learning Institute Franz Magnis Suseno SJ had earlier sent a letter to protest the planned presentation of the award to President Yudhoyono.
"It could discredit ACH`s claim as an institution that aims to promote morality," he said in the open letter.
He said the government had so far done nothing to protect victims of conflicts over freedom of faith like in the cases of Ahmadiyah and Shiite groups.
Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha meanwhile has asked all parties not to misinterpret the planned award presentation.
"If any individual or group in the country questions the planned presentation of the award we certainly would accept them in the context of freedom of speech," he said.
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
