Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - December 6, 2004
Jerry Norton

The former general, who took power in October, made the comments at an international religious conference aimed at sending a message of moderation in the region's battle against violent religious radicalism.

Participants from 13 countries ranged from Buddhist monks in orange robes to Muslim muftis and Catholic cardinals. Jews, Protestants, Hindus and Confucionists were also on hand.

But one key regional player, Malaysia, was absent as the meeting began in the ancient royal capital of Yogyakarta in Indonesia's Muslim heartland, and organizers said not to expect too much too soon from the two-day meeting, despite Yudhoyono's ringing words.

"We should rise up and demonstrate that religion is a force for peace," he said after prayers by religious leaders.

"To my mind, terrorism today must be regarded as the enemy of all religions. In the end the forces of light, reason and hope must overpower the forces of darkness, despair and violence."

Indonesia has been hit in recent years by clashes between Christians and Muslims and by bloody bombings blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant Islamic group linked to al Qaeda and tied to attacks throughout the region.

The deadliest blasts ripped through nightclubs on the island of Bali in October 2002, killing 202 people, many Australians.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda were co-hosting the International Dialogue on Interfaith Cooperation, organized by the two countries and Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah.

TERRIBLE PERVERSION

"A terrible perversion of religion, with a violent face, threatens moderate believers and moderate states in both the East and the West," Downer said in a speech at the opening.

More than 100 religious and community leaders and interfaith experts from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are delegates at the forum, held at a luxury hotel resort.

But no delegates from ASEAN member Malaysia, a Muslim country whose nationals have been among the leaders of violent militant groups like Jemaah Islamiah, were present as the meeting opened.

Organizers said their absence was a surprise and hoped they might still show up.

An official at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta told Reuters later that: "A religious attache from the embassy is attending the conference. He left for Yogyakarta this morning."

However, no other country had a delegation of less than five and even such relatively isolated and poor countries as Laos and Papua New Guinea were represented at the meeting by nine and eight delegates respectively.

While Yudhoyono and the foreign ministers condemned terrorism repeatedly in their talks, Muhammadiyah chairman Syafi Ma'arif's speech did not use the word, although it endorsed religious harmony and tolerance and interfaith efforts for peace.

The 30-million strong group's deputy head, Din Syamsuddin, told reporters the conference aimed not just to fight terrorism, but also a host of ills, from poverty to ignorance and HIV AIDS.

Yudhoyono said he hoped there would be a "move toward the establishment of a permanent forum" including more countries.

Downer said he did not anticipate "some kind of spectacular announcement" from the meeting, but the start of a process.

After the morning session, delegates broke up into working groups on such topics as building community harmony.

A member of the Indonesian delegation, university religious philosophy lecturer Komaruddin Hidayat, told Reuters the meeting sent a message to militants.

"It gives good impact in declaring that we are against terrorism, so it narrows up the space for them if government and society can be working hand in hand."

Michael Weisser, a rabbi representing a New Zealand congregation and one of two Jews at the conference, said just getting people of different religious backgrounds together was a significant accomplishment.

"Everyone's living inside their label. They're not too concerned about what's going on with people who live inside some other label."

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