01 July, 2017
Former US president Barack Obama has said that Indonesia, with its Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) principles, could inspire other Muslim countries in promoting tolerance and moderation.
Its track record as a tolerant nation is being tested after former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama -- an ethnic Chinese Christian - lost Jakarta's mayoral election in April against a prominent Muslim candidate.
Obama spent four years in Indonesia in the late 1960s in the then-sleepy capital Jakarta after his mother married an Indonesian man, following the end of her marriage to his Kenyan father. "So my time here made me cherish and respect for people's differences", he told a packed audience in Jakarta.
"That spirit is one of the defining things about Indonesia, the most important characteristics to set as an example for other Muslim countries around the world", Obama said.
The former US President has been on a family vacation in Indonesia with his wife Michelle and his daughters Sasha and Malia, visiting the island of Bali and the city of Yogyakarta in central Java.
Obama concludes his visit on Sunday and would next travel to South Korea to attend the eighth Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul, where he would be joined by other politicians including former British Prime Minister David Cameron and former Japan Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Indonesia, a country of 250 million people, has experienced rising intolerance against non-Muslims and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
A leader of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization this week called for a boycott of Starbucks, saying that the worldwide coffee chain's pro-gay stand risks ruining the "religious and cultured" core of the country.
