Home Worldwide Indonesia April, 2011 RI media playing up…

NATIONAL Thu, 04/07/2011 7:19 PM

A communications expert from Surabaya’s Airlangga University has accused the Indonesian media of playing up the issues of Islamic minority sect Ahmadiyah, saying there is actually no such thing as religious conflict in Indonesia.

Rachmah Ida, a lecturer in communication science, further said that the Indonesian media were “politicizing” religious issues for the sake of business and political interests.

“They play up more or less the same issues, such as religious and ethnic conflicts, unity in diversity issues, the failed state … “Rachmah said as she addressed a workshop of the Asia Journalism Forum (AJF) in Singapore on Thursday.

“The Indonesian media have never changed their stance on Ahmadiyah, and that speaks a lot about how much they’re playing with the issue,” she added, as quoted by Antara.

Rachmah cited as an example how a major Indonesian publication group publishes two newspapers in Maluku, which was plagued with religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians in the past.

One of the newspapers sided with the Muslims and the other with the Christians.

She said the group tried to appear balanced, but actually it only did that for the sake of its business.

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