REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PATTANI - Indonesian Minister for Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali said that Indonesia like a social laboratory for research on inter-religious relations.
"We are diversed but we are still one entity. The keys to our unity are how we recognize our nature and the friendship," Ali said on Wednesday during international seminar at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani Campus, Thailand.
He said that diversity among people is disposition or natural. But when peole failed to recognize it, then they made a mistake byas it was against the nature's law.
As an archipelago, Indonesia is a plural country. "One of things that glue them together is Islam with tolerant and human face," he said in a written statement. Islamic education institutions also accommodate local values.
In Thailand, the minister also meet with Secretary General of Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC), Tawee Sodsong. The meeting is attended by Muslim figures from Pattani.
Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali (file photo)
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