Source: Jakarta Post, the (Indonesia)
Source type: Newspaper
Published on: 19 Apr 2010
That Islam forbids its followers from converting to other religions is a contentious issue.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, the state guarantees the right of its people to embrace any faith they choose although the government only recognizes six religions — Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
Indonesia, a nation of 230 million people, applies what Muslim scholar Anies Baswedan calls “religion-friendly” secularism, which advocates the separation of state and religion, but also asserts that the former does not inhibit the latter.
The case, however, is slightly different in the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, where Islam is the official religion and leaving that religion bears legal consequences or is completely forbidden. Does this mean that those two countries obstruct religious freedom?
Rights activists would immediately say yes; While most people in Kuala Lumpur and Bandar Sri Begawan might say otherwise, arguing that citizens there are allowed to practice their faith regardless of what they believe.That said, religious freedom is understood differently in various countries. Can the French policy banning conspicuous religious symbols in public schools be seen as an encroachment on freedom of worship? Should the Muslim minority in Switzerland have felt their rights were denied when the majority of the people there opted to ban the construction of minarets?
Diplomats, religious leaders and journalists from Asia and Europe convened at the sixth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Interfaith Dialog in Madrid from April 7-9 to find answers to such sensitive and delicate questions.
Indonesia, China, Japan, Poland, France and Germany were among major countries who sent representatives.
The European Union intends to boost political and economic relations with Asia, which currently accounts for some 30 percent of EU trade and hosts about 15 percent of the EU’s Foreign Direct Investment stock overseas.
A cultural dialog is a requisite for that mission.
Themed “The Consolidation of Religious Freedom and Mutual Knowledge of Societies through Interreligious and Intercultural Dialog”, the conference, co-hosted by Pakistan, aimed at finding “ways to promote respect for diversity, mutual knowledge and freedom of religion and beliefs”.
Three working groups were then formed to discuss three major issues, including religious freedom and human rights. They were also tasked with issuing recommendations that would later be called the Madrid Statement.
The ASEM partners reached a consensus that they have “the responsibility to protect the freedom of all religions, majority and minority”, but they agreed to disagree on the notion of religious freedom.
The statement says the delegates “recognized that differences exist between cultures and religions in the interpretation of religious freedom and the freedom of expression. We are mindful of the fact that there still remain areas and issues where we have to agree to disagree and further dialog is needed.”
It is by now a truism, in Asia and also in Europe, to say that freedom has its limits and can never be absolute.
But the two regions set those limits on different levels. A norm in Europe is possibly an excess in Asia.
The ASEM interfaith meeting failed to find a solution to the problem, though it certainly deserves kudos for bringing the issue into an open debate and paving the way for further dialogs. Recognition of the seemingly irreconcilable differences is essential to hold fruitful cross-cultural dialogs.
There are many issues that need to be addressed.
The Danish cartoon incident in 2006, which triggered a massive protest in the Islamic world, could be seen as a clear example of how Asia and Europe apply different standards on freedom of expression.
The minarets issue is also baffling to some Muslims. The Swiss government was against the vote to ban minarets, but the people came to the poll to support it.
Meanwhile, reports on the difficulties faced by Christians in Muslim countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, remain a concern for European countries.
The differences between the two regions go beyond the antagonism between Islam and the secular/Christian West.
Though still a communist country and portrayed by media as anti-religion for its alleged persecutions against religious minorities in the country, China claimed that it upheld freedom of worship, saying that religions – including Islam, Catholicism and Buddhism – had been “immersed in the Chinese culture of harmony”.
“In the past 60 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, religions in China have steadily developed and have actively participated in social services,” said Chinese Ambassador to Spain Wang Xue Xian in his remark.
And while some European countries lamented that many Muslim countries forbid Muslim citizens from denouncing their faith and that Christian churches are repressed in China, the Chinese expressed concern that proselytizing activities conducted by Christian missionaries in their country have been too aggressive.
This raised a delicate problem: When people are coaxed into embracing certain religions, let us say by evangelists, can their conversion be seen as a violation of their right to freedom of religion?
The cynics are reasonably skeptical as to whether interfaith dialog could ever yield anything useful; some might even say such meetings are a waste of time and money. But it is hard to overlook the fact that, as pointed out in the Madrid Statement, “The world is becoming increasingly culturally and religiously diverse.”
And the political leaders have learned that playing down the problem of intolerance and ignorance of our cultural diversity has proven costly, both politically and economically.
Author: Ary Hermawan
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/19/can-asia-europe-agree-freedom-faith.html
