CARTOONS CAST SHADOW OVER REGIONAL INTER-FAITH MEET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 002030 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2014 TAGS: PREL KISL ID SUBJECT: CARTOONS CAST SHADOW OVER REGIONAL INTER-FAITH MEET REF: A. JAKARTA 1456 (INDONESIANS VENT) ¶B. JAKARTA 1755 (CARTOON UPDATE) Classified By: Political Officer John Rath. Reason: 1.4(d). ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Indonesia hosted religious leaders representing 10 religious faiths from 17 East Asian nations to an inter-faith conference February 12-13. While the gathering produced a helpful declaration that included calls for greater inter-religious tolerance and understanding to deter extremism and terror, the Prophet cartoon controversy crept often into conference discourse. In a speech to open the conference, Vice President Jusuf Kalla attributed the cartoons to "press intolerance" and, in a separate meeting with local Muslim leaders, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono proposed an international dialogue among journalists to prevent future religion-based media tempests. Street protests over the cartoons appear to be tapering off, with demonstrators now focusing on other topics such as a pending pornography bill. End Summary. Dialogue Fever -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The February 12-13 East Asian Religious Leaders conference convened 150 participants representing 10 different faiths and 17 nations to discuss regional inter-religious tensions and devise ways to increase communal understanding and harmony. GOI officials from President Yudhoyono on down have stressed the emphasis the GOI places on interfaith dialogue, and the gathering was co-hosted by Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim group, and a Buddhist group headed by a local businessman (who, according to Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin, underwrote conference costs). ¶3. (SBU) The conference produced a 10-point statement of "commitments" that included pledges to: increase religious education as a basis to strengthen plural and multi-cultural societies; enhance inter-religious understanding and respect to inhibit feelings of suspicion, intolerance, and hatred among adherents of different religions; strengthen the spirit of peace and moderation to deter violence, extremism, and terrorism; and support peaceful resolution of ethnic and religious conflicts at all levels. Din Syamsuddin told us SBY and Kalla praised the event, adding that he and Muhammadiyah planned to host a domestic inter-faith dialogue next month. ¶4. (SBU) While the conference declaration avoided reference to the Muhammad cartoon flap, the topic crept often into conference discourse. In welcoming remarks at the conference opening ceremony, Din reiterated his condemnation of the drawings and called on adherents of all religions to avoid insults to the deeply-held beliefs of others. Vice President Kalla followed Din to the podium and characterized the controversy not as antipathy between Muslims and the West, but rather a situation brought about by "press intolerance." Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda attended the opening ceremony with Kalla, and later opined to reporters at the conference venue that the decision of Danish diplomats to depart Indonesia due to cartoon-related threats was overly hasty and taken without due regard to added GOI security measures. ¶5. (SBU) After a February 13 meeting with Din Syamsuddin and other local Muslim leaders on the margins of the inter-faith conference, President Yudhoyono proposed an international media dialogue modeled on the inter-faith example as a way to prevent future religion-based media controversies. This approach follows an essay Yudhoyono penned for the "International Herald Tribune" in which he wrote that a good way to end the cartoon controversy would be to "stop justifying the cartoons as 'freedom of the press.'" Yudhoyono wrote further that focus on press freedom in democracies "sends a conflicting message to the Muslim community that in a democracy, it is permissible to offend Islam," and thereby "damages efforts to prove that democracy and Islam go together." In his meeting with religious leaders, Yudhoyono also reportedly made critical statements about lewd and vulgar scenes on popular local television shows, further fueling public ferment over a pending anti-pornography bill (septel). Street protests over the Prophet cartoons appear to be tapering off, with demonstrators focusing on other hot topics such as JAKARTA 00002030 002 OF 002 pornography (Islamic groups are taking the lead in anti-pornography protests, often linking pornography with "globalization" and American cultural influence) and rising commodity prices. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) Top GOI officials often speak of inter-faith dialogue as an important means to enhance domestic communal harmony while projecting Indonesia's international image as a tolerant, multi-religious society. While the recently-concluded conference may have buffed up Indonesia's regional standing, it is highly unlikely to have made much of a splash - if any at all - in festering communal hotspots like Central Sulawesi. Muhammadiyah's leading role in the conference reflects an emerging division of labor between the group and its rival Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU),with NU taking the lead on international gatherings of Muslim scholars and Muhammadiyah hosting international inter-faith fetes. Ambitious and eager to cast himself as a friend to all faiths and a man of statesman-like virtues (particularly in the presence of journalists),Din Syamsuddin made the most of the two-day gathering. PASCOE