The Chairman of the Hindu Council of Australia, Dr. A. Balasubramaniam was invited as the representative of the Australian Hindu community by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, Hon. Alexander Downer to attend the Interfaith conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from 5-7 December 2004. The conference was jointly organised by the Australian and the Indonesian governments with the theme “Dialogue on Interfaith Cooperation: Community Building and Harmony”.
Objectives:
- To build a harmonious relationship among all followers of different faiths and religions in the region through promoting confidence and trust.
- To foster mutual understanding and respect between Islam, as the prominent religion in Indonesia, and other faiths and religions.
- To engage all faiths and religious groups in developing an inclusive conceptual proposal to bridge differences and find specific common grounds for practical cooperation.
The participants included prominent faith and religious leaders from Australia, Brunei, Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam. There were a total of 133 delegates from 13 countries that took part in the Dialogue.
The Australian delegation consisted of:
- Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney.
- The Reverend John Baldock- Anglican Church
- Ms. Wendie Wilkie - Uniting Church of Australia
- Reverend John Henderson - General-Secretary, National Council of Churches in Australia
- Dr. Ameer Ali, President, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils
- Archbishop Aghan Baliozian - Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand.
- The Most Venerable Phuoc Hue OAM - President, the Buddhist Federation of Australia.
- Dr. Appupillay Balasubramaniam - Chairman, Hindu Council of Australia.
- Sister Patricia Madigan OP - Roman Catholic Church, Bishop's Advisory Committee (Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations)
- Ms. Peta Jones Pellach - Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
Observer
The Venerable Phuoc-Tan Thich - The Buddhist Federation of Australia
The three day conference included the tour of the famous 8th Century Buddhist Temple, the Borobudur and the Hindu Temple Prambanan.
The Prambanan temple is the biggest and a most beautiful Hindu temple about 20 minutes from Yogyakarta city. This magnificent Shaivite temple is reputed to be the biggest and most beautiful Hindu Temple in Indonesia. The temple is believed to have been built by King Balitung Maha Sambu in the middle of the ninth century.
The delegates were addressed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Australian Foreign Minister, Hon. Alexander Downer and various religious learders. Also included 3 plenary sessions over a two day period where participants took part in further deliberations.
At the end of the conference the following statement was issued:
STATEMENT
The delegates to the International Dialogue on Interfaith Cooperation, held in Yogyakarta on 6-7 December 2004, expressed their strong commitment to fostering peace and respect for religious diversity in the Asia-Pacific region. Delegates affirmed their strong condemnation of violence and terrorism. Participants committed themselves to taking action in their own communities to further promote interfaith and inter-communal harmony. Delegates undertook to discuss with their own national governments a range of recommendations designed to strengthen interfaith unity and cooperation.
Delegates expressed their strong appreciation to the Governments of Indonesia and Australia and the Central Board of Mahammadiyah and to those of participating countries for their support for the Interfaith Dialogue meeting and underlined their support for further interfaith dialogue initiatives.
The following affirmations were issued:
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| We noted the important statement made by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, in his opening remarks, stating that when ethnic and religious prejudice was compounded by economic and political rivalry, conflict was inevitable. The President stressed that the solution was not to deny the reality of our differences, but to affirm a deeper, greater and more important reality-our common humanity. |
| We believe the meeting has achieved its main objective as a forum to promote understanding and to foster harmony between faith communities across our region. We see this Dialogue on Interfaith Cooperation as the beginning of a process of more direct and frequent communication between regional faith leaders in solving problems and building a more harmonious and peaceful future for the region. |
| We are of the view that the promotion of a culture of peace and acceptance based on relationships of justice should be promoted through education as a way to enrich dialogue |
| We call upon governments to support such initiative in the future as a way to promote and strengthen people-to-people contact. |
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