Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi stresses on tolerance during visit to India

Row over comment on Prophet 'stark reminder' that hate speeches must be strongly rejected, says Singapore's Vivian Balakrishnan

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi underlined the importance of ‘tolerance’ as she addressed an India-ASEAN meet in New Delhi on Thursday – just days after comments by two leaders of the ruling BJP on Prophet Mohammed triggered outrage from West to South and Southeast Asia.

Marsudi tweeted that she had underlined “the importance of tolerance in today’s multicultural society” while participating at the special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (SAIFMM) in New Delhi.

Her Singapore counterpart, Vivian Balakrishnan, who was also in New Delhi to attend the SAIFMM, told journalists that the episode of controversy over the remarks by the two leaders of BJP was a stark reminder why hate speeches should be strongly rejected.

Indonesia was one of the many nations which last week formally conveyed to India its condemnation over the comments made by the BJP leaders, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, on Prophet Mohammed. Like India's envoys to many capitals in West and South Asia, India’s ambassador to Indonesia, Manoj Bharti, too was on June 7 summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, which strongly condemned “unacceptable derogatory remarks”.

Marsudi stressed on the importance of ‘tolerance’ during the SAIFMM, which was hosted by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

“I think this episode is another stark reminder why we need to be so careful and why we need to strongly reject hate speech, incendiary speech, speech which incites or aggravates, or causes insult or division within societies,” Balakrishnan was quoted by the CNA (Channel News Asia) telling journalists in New Delhi. “And this is just another reminder and is an affirmation for why we take such a strict approach to this in Singapore.”

The Government of Singapore recently banned screening of “The Kashmir Files” in the city state, citing concerns that the controversial movie based on the exodus of Hindus from the Kashmir Valley of India in the 1990s, had potential to cause enmity between different communities". The film was hailed by the BJP.