How SBY Relates Islam to Democracy and Modernization

SBY PRESIDENCY

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Islam, democracy, and modernization can develop side by side to form a modern and democratic nation without abandoning religious values.

"We in Indonesia have seen that Islam, democracy and modernization can grow together. There is no conflict between religious, spiritual and political obligations as citizens in pluralism and the capability to participate in the modern world," the President said in his opening speech at the Sixth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy here Monday.

Islam-based political parties in Indonesia are among the strong supporters of democracy, he said.

"This moderate view of openness and tolerance in Indonesia and other communities in the world, is a seed of harmonious life among civilizations in the 21st century," he said.

At present, democracy in Indonesia continues to grow and the country enjoys the third best economic growth among G-20 member states, after China and India, according to the head of state. It showed that democracy and economic growth can happen at the same time, he said.

The three-day meeting is being participated in by 625 people, including democracy activists, practitioners, and academics from 110 countries. The agenda will focus on ways to expand democracy movements within all cultures, as well as on ways to develop mutually supporting cross-cultural relationships to advance democracy in all global regions, to advance the World Movement’s ongoing Defending Civil Society and Assessing Democracy Assistance projects, and to address the challenges to democracy in such areas as anti-corruption, freedom of expression, youth engagement, independent media, human rights, local governance, elections, political party development, women’s political participation, and ethnic and religious inclusion.

WMD is a global network of democrats, including activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders, who have come together to cooperate in the promotion of democracy. The Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) initiated the nongovernmental effort with the holding of a global Assembly in New Delhi, India, in February 1999 to strengthen democracy where it was weak, to reform and envigorate democracy even where it is longstanding, and to bolster pro-democracy groups in countries that have not yet entered into a process of democratic transition.(KOMPAS)

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