SETARA Research, Magelang, Central Java, Is In The Top 10 Most Tolerant Cities, What's The Order Of Your City?

Magelang Mayor Muchamad Nur Aziz delivered a speech when receiving the Magelang City award (Photo Via ANTARA)

MAGELANG - The city of Magelang, Central Java, is included in the top 10 most tolerant cities in Indonesia in 2021, based on research from the Tolerant City Index (IKT) by the SETARA Institute for Democracy and Peace.

For this achievement, the Mayor of Magelang Muchamad Nur Aziz received the award which took place in Jakarta, Wednesday, March 30 evening. Aziz admitted that he was proud of the appreciation given by the SETARA Institute for Democracy and Peace, especially that Magelang City was the only city that did not enter the top 10 in 2020, but now in 2021 it will immediately reach the top six.

"This is an award for the residents of Magelang City because of the high tolerance of the community. The diversity of religions, races and cultures is not a barrier to always being tolerant to others," he said in a statement received in Magelang, Antara, Thursday, March 31.

The results of the IKT SETARA Institute for Democracy and Peace research show that Magelang City is in sixth place with a score of 6,020 and ahead of Ambon City in seventh position with a score of 5,900), Bekasi in eighth position with a score of 5,830, Surakarta in ninth position with a score of 5,783, and Kediri in 10th position with a score of 5,733.

Meanwhile, the top five positions are occupied by Singkawang in first place with a score of 6,483, Manado in second with a score of 6,400, Salatiga in third with a score of 6,337, Kupang in fourth with a score of 6,337, and Tomohon in fifth with a score of 6,133.

Aziz explained that the assessment component that became the superior strength of Magelang City was the Religious Magelang Program (Programis), which was to create religious villages.

With this award, he asked all levels of the Magelang City Government and the public to be complacent. This achievement should actually be a driving force for the Magelang City Government to always encourage the community to always be tolerant with others.

"The city government is also committed to always providing the best service to the community without discrimination, without discrimination. All levels of society must be served properly so that prosperity is achieved," he explained.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of SETARA Institute for Democracy and Peace Ismail Hasani said SETARA is an association that was established with the aim of realizing an equal, pluralistic, and dignified society for everyone.

In order to realize this vision, the association carries out promotions, studies, and public education related to pluralism, humanity, democracy, human rights and peace.

One form of the SETARA Institute for Democracy and Peace initiative is to conduct IKT, which in 2021 will be the fifth publication to be carried out, after being published in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020.

"The indexing study conducted by our research team is still in the same research area as research on the condition of freedom of religion and belief in Indonesia which has been carried out since 2007," he said.

The indexing study aims to promote the development and fostering of tolerance spaces in the city, which is carried out by the local city government, either through active or passive actions.

Active action is the abolition of discriminatory policies or the granting of permits for the establishment of places of worship for minority religious groups, while passive actions are not issuing policies that are not conducive or restrictive to the realization of tolerance in spaces of state-citizen or citizen-citizen interaction.