Conference On World Tolerance Held In Purwakarta

PURWAKARTA, W Java, May 23 (Antara) - A number of foreign representatives attended a three-day world tolerance conference opening in Purwakarta, West Java, on Monday. Some of the ambassadors expressed appreciation of the conference attended by around a hundreds of foreign representatives from a number of countries. "This is the first time to Purwakarta. The people are hospitable," said Ruslan Nasibov, Councillor of political and economic affairs at the Azerbaijan embassy on the sidelines of the conference. Nasibov said he took part in the conference to share opinion and to see realization of the values of tolerance. A representative from the Kazakhstan embassy Gamzat Khoerov said "it is good to have sharing in the issue of tolerance. He said his country, which called for world peace, highly respects the values of tolerance. "This is the second time I visit Purwakarta. Earlier I attended a world village conference in Purwakarta. A lot has changed in Purwakarta," he said. The conference was held to find the right formula to increase tolerance between followers of different religions, Regent Dedi Mulyadi said. "Basically, Indonesians tightly hold the spirit of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (unity in diversity). All religions strongly love peace," Dedi said, adding education on tolerance needs to begin from schools. The conference is held to follow the growing religious and racial intolerance especially in Jakarta lately, marked with the surfacing of organizations allegedly seeking to replace Pancasila, the state ideology. Earlier, the government announced a ban on the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) for allegedly seeking to establish Caliphate administration which would not recognized Pancasila and the state constitution .