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
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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
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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