The Jakarta Globe:
As local authorities debate over banishing Indonesia’s Ahmadiyah Muslim sect and several congregations remain barred from their houses of worship, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week will jet off to the United States and address an audience specifically concerned with respect for religious freedom. But it will not be an occasion for the country’s leader to be criticized.
Instead he will be the guest of honor at a ceremony hosted by New York-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation. There he is expected to accept an award from the interfaith coalition of business leaders “in recognition of his work to support human rights and religious freedom in the country.”
An Ahmadi woman, whose son and two others died in a mob attack, walks by the remains of a family home after it was burned in Pandeglang, Banten. (AFP Photo/Nurani Nuutong)
Yudhoyono’s nomination for the World Statesman Award has sparked outrage within Indonesia. Many have complained that this “inappropriate” recognition propels an idealistic notion to the world that Indonesia is, in fact, a model of religious harmony, which begs the broader question as to what role the international community should play within Indonesia’s struggle for religious tolerance.
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Indonesia, Intolerance
The woman in the photo looks very noble and graceful. May Allah bless her and grant her son a lofty station in paradise.