Rector Officiated the Opening of Beyond Coexistence in Plural Societies International Conference

Harun Nasution Auditorium, UIN News Online – Rector of UIN Jakarta Prof Dr Dede Rosyada MA officiated the opening of Beyond Coexistence in Plural Societies International Conference, organized by LP2M UIN Jakarta and University of Notre Dame, USA at Harun Nasution Auditorium, Campus I of UIN Jakarta, Monday (7/10).

In his presentation, Rector revealed that the presence of local academicians and local researchers in this seminar were expected to initiate ideas in preserving the tolerance in Indonesia.

According to Dede, the tendency of sectarianism and intolerance were strengthened lately marked by the increase of hate speech with its potential damage to harm the harmony. "The trend is also contrary to the character of this nation which is relatively open in accepting any form of difference," he explained.

This event present many world-recognized experts in this field as speakers, among them are Robert W. Hefner of Boston University and James B. Hoesterey of Emory. Besides these two researchers, some of world's academicians which also concerned about religious tolerance issues was Scott Appleby and Ibrahim Moosa from University of Notredame, Michael Feener from Oxford University, Nelly van Doorn-Harder from Wake Forest University, and Eckhard Zemmrich from Humboldt-Universitat.

A number of national academics and researchers from various universities and research institutions also scheduled to submit their research findings. Among them are Mun'im Sirry from University of Notre Dame, Mohammed Ali from University of California Riverside, Azyumardi Azra and Arskal Salim from UIN Jakarta, Siti Syamsiyatun and Zainal Abidin Bagir from Universitas Gadjah Mada. (usa)