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Indonesia's President Commits to Spreading Wealth, Tolerance

by Associated Press

   JAKARTA, INDONESIA --

   Indonesia's president Wednesday vowed a fairer distribution of the
   nation's wealth and a renewed commitment to protecting diversity after
   volatile months in which the country's reputation for tolerance was
   undermined by religious tensions and attacks on minorities.
   Joko "Jokowi" Widodo repeated familiar themes in his annual address to
   parliament that comes a day before celebrations of the 72nd anniversary
   of Indonesia's independence from Dutch colonial rule.
   Widodo, the first Indonesian president from outside the ranks of the
   elite or military, said economic development must be spread to all
   corners of the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
   "Equitable development will unite Indonesia. Fair development will make
   us stronger in facing global competition," he said.

   Third largest democracy
   Indonesia is the third largest democracy after India and the U.S. and
   as a member of the Group of 20 major industrialized and developing
   nations, its economy is among the biggest in the world. But it has
   dramatic extremes of wealth and poverty, grappling with both childhood
   stunting from malnutrition and a mounting health care burden from
   obesity-related diseases among the wealthier. About 11 percent of the
   country of more than 250 million people lives in extreme poverty and
   large numbers are just above that poverty line.
   People in far-flung areas of the archipelago such as the westernmost
   province of Aceh, a region granted substantial autonomy under a peace
   deal in 2004 with separatists, should be able to get the same standard
   of education, health care and other services as their fellow
   Indonesians, Widodo said.
   He also singled out the easternmost Papua region, one of the country's
   poorest areas where Indonesian rule is deeply resented by indigenous
   Papuans, saying he wants Papuans to feel the same nationalistic pride
   as other ethnic groups that make up Indonesia.

   Pancasila

   He said the government will strengthen its commitment to protecting the
   idea of "unity in diversity" and "Pancasila," the official state
   ideology that promotes principles such as social justice, democracy and
   belief in one God.
   It has been seen as under increasing threat from an upsurge in
   religious conservatism that led to the imprisonment earlier this year
   of the then-governor of Jakarta, a minority Christian and ethnic
   Chinese, on charges of blasphemy.
   Persecution of LGBT people has surged in the past two years and
   religious minorities have faced an increase in violations of religious
   freedom and acts of intolerance including the eviction of more than
   7,000 members of the Gafatar religious community in Kalimantan in early
   2016.