Deutsche Welle, 4 March 2013
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has begun a visit to Berlin amid German praise for his nation's steps toward democracy. A rights group says his government should do more to protect religious minorities.
Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has begun a visit to Berlin amid German praise for his nation's steps toward democracy. A rights group says his government should do more to protect religious minorities.
President
Yudhoyono was welcomed in Berlin with military honors by German President
Joachim Gauck who said Indonesia had begun to exemplify the motto of
"unity in diversity" since its overthrow of dictatorship 15 years
ago.
The world's
largest Muslim-majority nation could send "important signals" to Arab
countries, Gauck said. Indonesia and Germany as economically significant G-20
nations bore special responsibility, including the need to safeguard natural
resources, the president added.
On Tuesday
evening, Yudhoyono and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are due to open Berlin's
annual ITB international tourism industry convention. Indonesia is this year's
partner nation at the ITB.
Merkel
visited Indonesia in July last year and signed the "Jakarta Declaration"
to broaden bilateral ties which include post-secondary education in Germany for
Indonesian students. Germany provided aid after the 2004 Aceh earthquake and
helped establish a tsunami early warning system inaugurated in 2011.
HRW
criticizes treatment of minorities
Yudhoyono's
arrival in Berlin was preceded by criticism of his government's handling of
minorities by the New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Last
Thursday, HRW issued a 107-page report which accused Yudhoyono's nominally
secular government of responding "weakly to growing intolerance" by
Islamist extremists against minorities in Indonesia - contrary to the southeast
Asian nation's image as being a promoter of moderate Islam.
The
majority of Indonesia's 240 million people are Sunni. The HRW report cited
harassment of Shia Muslims, the Islamic sect Ahmadiyah, Buddhists and
Christians.
"Religious
intolerance and related violence is rising in Indonesia, " said HRW Asia
Deputy Director Phelim Kine.
He said
Yudhoyono's administration should adopt "a zero tolerance approach, to
prosecute the perpetrator, assist the victim and make clear that the government
won't accept this type of abuse," Kine said.
Yudhoyono's
government replied by saying that religious harmony remained strong in
Indonesia and that it was unfair to generalize. The Religious Affairs Ministry
said some disputes over the closure or building of places of worship were
instead motivated by social, economic and even family issues.
Trading
partners
German-Indonesian
trade, which dipped in 2009 during the world economic crisis has resurged in
recent years to be worth nearly seven billion euros ($9.1 billion). After China
and Japan, the EU ranks as Indonesia's third largest trading partner.
Ahead of
elections due in 2014, Yuhyohono's ruling Democratic Party has been undermined
by a series of corruption allegations. The president, who was re-elected in
2009 to a second term, is barred from running for a third term and no obvious
successor candidate has emerged.
Last month,
Anas Urbaningrum quit his post as party chairman after being named by an
anti-graft body as a suspect in a scandal over the construction of a sports
stadium near Jakarta.
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