Diversity is God’s Law, Religious Minister Says

Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin with Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mustafa Ibrahim Al-Mubarak talk to reporters at the office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Jakarta, Thursday (31/3)

Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin has called on all sides to prevent racism because Indonesia is a diverse country in terms of ethnicity, religion, language, tradition, and culture.

“I suppose we must prevent racism. Each of us must restrain ourselves from issuing statements that can be categorized as racist,” the Minister told reporters at the closing ceremony of the 8th National Koran and Hadist memorizing competition (MHQH) at HM Rasjidi Auditorium of the office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Jakarta on Thursday (31/3).

On that occasion, the Minister also called on all sides to maintain diversity and to restrain from doing all kinds of racism.

“We all have to restrain ourselves, understand differences, and we must not exaggerate them as well,” he said.

Lukman also hopes the media not to exaggerate things that contain racism.

“We also have to maintain our plurality, our diversity as a great nation,” he said.

The Minister also hopes that diversity among the people is a noble thing because God creates His creatures differently.

Therefore, he added, respecting plurality is also a noble thing.

“Diversity in this nation is the sunnatullah (God’s law). Thus, humans should not force uniformity. In fact, people must respond to the differences with wisdom,” the Minister said.

The closing ceremony was also attended by Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mustafa Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, former Minister of Finance Fuad Bawazier, Echelon I officials, and participants of the MHQH. (Humas Kemenag/ES) (Naster/YM/EP)