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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