RI-US INTERFAITH LEADERS VISIT ISTIQLAL MOSQUE

Jakarta Forum - Jakarta, Jan 27 - Interfaith leaders from Indonesia and the United States visited Jakarta`s Istiqlal Grand Mosque on Wednesday as part of their three-day (Jan 25-27) dialogue hosted by Indonesia`s foreign ministry.

The visit to the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia was intended to give the parrticipants a clearer picture of Islam in Indonesia.

"I am amazed by the structure of the mosque and religious activity here. People always come here to conduct prayers even during working hours," Jean Duff, executive director of the Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA), said in an interview.

Duff admitted she knew little about Indonesia. In fact, she added, most people in the US tended to associate Islam in Indonesia with negative stereotypes such as terrorism and brutality.

"Now I can tell that these assumptions are all wrong. Indonesia is a modern and democratic country with Islam as the religion of the majority," Duff said.

William Vandley, secretary general of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP), said the majority of the people in Indonesia and the US tended to have negative perceptions about each other.

He said the media`s tendency to only cover conflicts or tensions between Indonesia and US had their share in forming the negative opinions.

"This first ever interfaith dialogue is expected to reduce such negative stereotypes between the peoples of the two countries," Vandley said.

Sharing the Vandely`s view, Andri Hadi, director general of public information and services at Indonesia`s foreign ministry, said it was hoped the interfaith dialogue could erase all misunderstandings betwwen the peoples of both countries.

Source: Copyright © ANTARA

Posted in: BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta,conduct prayers even during working hours,Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA),Jakarta`s Istiqlal Grand Mosque