Chairman of Forum for Religious Harmony (FKUB) of Bali Dewa Gede Ngurah Swasta said Bali become exemplary in fostering unity and harmony among religious believers that needs to be replicated elsewhere.

“This is reflected in every implementation of religious holy days, all people of different religions are equally tolerant,” he said in Denpasar on Thursday.

He said, to achieve concord and harmony among religious believers must involve all parties, from governments, religious leaders, traditional leaders and community participation.

Religious harmony, according to Ngurah Swasta, is a mandate and demands to sustain life of the nation.

“If you fail to create harmony and even if there’s social conflict, it is impossible to carry out a variety of programs related to regional development and improvement of people’s welfare,” he said.

It is said, Indonesia is a pluralistic country in terms of beliefs, thus should be managed with the correct and appropriate methods, otherwise it may cause conflicts that led to conflict between one religion to another religion.

Moreover, Bali is one of the initiators of the establishment of the Joint Decree (SKB) of Three Ministers in 2006. At that Bali is one of the pilot areas in fostering harmony among religious believers.

Religious harmony such as in Bali is hard to find in other regions, for example is when Balinese Hindus celebrate Nyepi, Muslims also take part in keeping the situation conducive so that Hindus can perform the holy day well.

“Similarly, when Ramadan, Eid and Christmas as well as Vesak are celebrated in Bali, the Hindu community in Bali is very tolerant to participate in maintaining the smooth of those holy days,” he said.