The Huffington Post:
In early June, the Indonesian government erected a 16-foot gleaming white statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, on Washington’s Embassy Row.
Indonesia’s ambassador to the US, Dino Patti Djalal, touted the statue as a symbol of the “respect for religious freedom” in the world’s most populous Muslim country. The serenity of Saraswati’s statue and the representations of three children peacefully studying at her feet are unquestionable. But while the symbolism of religious harmony in Washington is encouraging, the reality on the ground in many parts of Indonesia is starkly different.