Defending Daniel Mananta from Netizens' Hate Speech, Marshanda: Stop Feeling Righteous

JAKARTA - Marshanda opened her voice about the viral teaser or a clip from her podcast with Daniel Mananta that was spread on social media, which has recently been criticized by netizens. Daniel was considered impolite because he read the Bible for Marshanda.

The celebrity who started her acting career as a child actress asked netizens to stop expressing hate speech in the comments column.

"I beg my friends to stop insulting each other in my podcast teaser comments yesterday with Daniel," Marshanda wrote in her Instagram upload, seen Tuesday, August 8.

Marshanda asked netizens to stop blaming the beliefs of different people. According to her, there is no one who is greater and demeans other people who have different beliefs.

"Come on, stop feeling the most righteous. Stop feeling superior to those whose beliefs differ from ours," said Marshanda.

“Your religion is your religion, and my religion is my religion. That's one thing in the holy book that is taught and I never forget," she continued.

Marshanda questioned why there are still many Indonesians who still cannot accept differences and respect them.

"When are we going to start accepting and respecting differences if from religion alone we can belittle, even vilify those who are different from us?" asked the 33-year-old celebrity.

“This August 17, how many years has Indonesia been independent? How long are our people going to look down on adherents of different religions?” she added.

At the end of her statement, Marshanda invited netizens to see differences as something good, and to be able to accept the weaknesses of other people.

"Come on, respecting each other in differences is cooler than imposing our guidelines on others. One more thing, please forgive everyone who is still not perfect in your eyes on their spiritual journey," said Marshanda.

Previously, in the teaser podcast Daniel Mananta circulating on social media, it was seen how the former MTV VJ asked Marshanda to read a verse in the Bible.

The video was also heavily criticized by netizens. Many of them questioned Daniel Mananta's request for Marshanda, who incidentally embraced Islam.