By
Benny YP Siahaan[1]
Photo credit: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/29/intolerance-%E2%80%98-rise%E2%80%99-among-muslims.html
It is a bit odd reading on national media recently
that the news on President SBY’s visit to New York was overshadowed with the
news that heaccepted the World Statesman Award from the Appeal of Conscience
(ACF) rather than focusing on the main issue, that is to submit the report of
the High Level Panel of Post Millennium Development Goals. This should not be
construed that the issues and objections that were brought by the civil society
on the merit of accepting the World Statesman award for promoting religious
tolerance have no ground, but it is also important to put the issue on
proportion.
New
York, 30 May 2013
The main reason President SBY went to New York is to chair the
last meeting of the United Nations High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development
together with leaders of the UK and Sierra Leone, and to present the
report to the UN Secretary General on their work of the last year. As a sideline, the President will
receive the award from ACF, a Jewish interfaith organization presided by Rabbi
Arthur Schneier.
Schneier founded the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in
1965 and has served as its president since then. From there he develops a
reputation as a prominent interfaith dialogue leader in the US, particularly
after 9/11. He is also the spiritual leader of the Park East Synagogue in
Manhattan, a modern Jewish Orthodox congregation for more than forty years. His
congregation was visited by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, the first time ever
a Catholic Pope visited a synagogue in the US.
Former recipients of this award come from world leader. Among them are Stephen
Harper the Prime Minister of Canada, Nicolas Sarkozy of France, Gordon Brown of
UK, President Lee Myung Bak of South Korea.
In fact, the conferment of the accolade to the Indonesian
President has never been a big issue in the United States. But Schneier’s
decision to give the award to President Yudhoyono has been the subject of
discourse and protest at home. While during the presentation at the fancy
Pierre hotel in famous Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, there was a report that there would be a demonstration to
reject the awardhby NGO called East Timor Network (ETAN) consist of not more
than 30 people.
On the other hand, this bestowment might remind us also about
the criticism of Schneir’s son, Rabbi
Marc Schneier, who is also an interfaith campaigner, when he applauded Bahrain
as a role model in the Arab world for coexistence and tolerance of different
faith communities on his visit to the country in January 2012. At the time
there was a series of unrest due to the protest from the Syiah community there because
of the alleged discrimination treatment by the Sunni majority.
Those who defend Schneier argue that to bestow this award will
in turn push the improvement of the alleged worsening religious tolerance in
Indonesia. Some said, however, that it would be too late since next year
President Yudhoyono will finish his term. Even so, there is a concern that this
award may give him a brush to his legacy in his exit in 2014.
While others who support Yudhoyono’s acceptance of the
award, including Marzuki Darusman a politician-cum-human rights activist and
the current UN Special Rapporteur for human rights situation in North Korea,
argue that every bestowment of an award to a politician mostly generates pros
and cons even to President Obama when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in
2009.
Apart from those pros and cons, let us take a look for a
while on the very definition of an award that usually bears meaning of an acknowledgement or recognition to a
person or a group of people to acknowledge or recognize their excellence or
great achievements in a certain field.
Hence, let us put the issue back to President Yudhoyono to
judge from his conscience and deepest heart as towhether he is entitled to the
award or whether the issue of religious intolerance
were truly upheld during his presidency or whether there is no ambiguity in
addressing the problems when they occur.
In summary, let us focus on the main aim of President
President SBY to New York that is to give recommendations to the world’s body
on how world’s development agenda for the next decades are set.
On the other hand, people will surely remember his judgment
and decision, good or bad, to accept the World Statesman award and its real
impact to the promotion of religious tolerance in the country after the
conferment.
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