Rabbi Arthur Schneier welcomes Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and wife Kristiani Herawati
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, with President Yudhoyono and Rabbi Arthur Schneier
Rabbi Arthur Schneier circles globe to orchestrate religious harmony	Louis and Debra Chenevert
Kenneth Bialkin and Lally Graham Weymouth, senior associate editor of The Washington Post
Dr. Ruth Westheimer meets Indonesian president

APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE
Indonesia Hypes Abrahamic Unity
But Refuses To Recognize Judaism

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER

T

HE president of Indonesia, the world’s third largest democracy, said he’s setting a good example for the Muslim world. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (popularly known as SBY) assured a New York audience of 500 Christians and Jews that his country is proving that "democracy, Islam and modernity can go together in positive symbiosis."

Rabbi Arthur Schneier was pleased to hear such praiseworthy remarks. For on this 30^th day in May the rabbi, assisted by Henry Kissinger who celebrated his 90^th birthday three days before, presented the World Statesman Award to SBY at the Appeal of Conscience dinner at the Pierre Hotel in New York.

"We are celebrating understanding and tolerance," declared Jan Eliasson, deputy secretary general of the United Nations.

Since founding the interfaith foundation in 1965, Rabbi Schneier has crisscrossed the globe to stimulate world leaders to promote inter-religious dialogue and protect minorities.

The Indonesian president pledged to preserve a nation where "all God’s children—Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Confucians and other faiths—live as one in freedom and brotherhood."

Those five religions are the only ones officially recognized by the state. Indonesia, with the world’s largest Muslim population, apparently does not recognize the Jew as one of God’s children. During the Holocaust thousands of Jews found safety in Indonesia; today only 20 are left in Jakarta and Surabaya. That truly is a minority.

But the Jewish presence is still felt. Shaar Hashamayim in North Sulawesi is the last synagogue still open, though little used. A 62-foot tall menorah, erected by the local government, remains on a hill overlooking Manado with its heavy Christian presence.

SBY proudly announced that "we are actively promoting Abrahamic unity so that all the offspring of Abraham can finally live together in total peace in the 21^st century."

One may well ask: How can you strive for Abrahamic unity if you don’t recognize the Jew, the very first offspring of Abraham, long before Christianity and Islam emerged?

Also at the dinner Louis R. Chenevert, chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corp., received the Appeal of Conscience Award for his multiple philanthropic endeavors.