Saturday, 15 November

The official closing statement by the Organizer contains details which are not necessarily well-recorded, because it was delivered late in the afternoon of the last day. Five days for a conference must be tiring for the participants. The statement was delivered by Prof Siswanto, Vice-Rector, UIN Sunan Kalijaga. In full it is presented below.

CLOSING REMARKS OF THE NINTH ASIAN BIOETHICS CONFERENCE
by Prof. Dr. H. Siswanto Masruri, M.A.
Vice Rector for Partnership of the State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga
Yogyakarta, November 7, 2008

Honorable Prof. Umar A. Jenie, M.Sc., PhD., Chairman of the National Bioethics Commission (KBN)/Chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI),
Honorable Dr. Darryl Macer, Regional Adviser in Social and Human Sciences in Asia Pacific, UNESCO, Bangkok,
Honorable Dr. Jayapaul Azariah, President of the Asian Bioethics Association,
Distinguished participants and observers,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Assalamu’alaikum wr. wb.,

First of all, let us raise our hands in prayer in expressing our thanks to our God, Allah SWT for bestowing his rahmat and taufik to all of us, and allowing us to meet on this beautiful evening at this Center for Continuing Education of UIN Sunan Kalijaga, attending the closing ceremony of the Ninth Bioethics Conference. Secondly, allow me to apologize for the absence of the Rector, who is now on duty to Semarang.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The French philosopher and statesman, Andre Malraux, predicted that the twenty-first century would be a religious century. Without necessasarily sharing his apocalyptic vision, I would surely agree that few factors could be more important in shaping the future of mankind. Religion has been somewhat pushed aside in the first part of the twentieth century by the ascendancy of humanism, so-called rationalism, science, and the great secular ideologies. But religion is rapidly recovering the place it held in centuries past, recognized as one of the great motive forces in human history.

That is why, related to this conference - although we have ethical diversities or ethical pluralism, as political philosopher Terry Nardin wrote, “Not everyone is committed to a pluralistic world, but everybody must live in one”, I recognize that religion should be the main source of ethics in the world. The attempt to reunite ethics from a renewed awareness of the religious significance of history is noble and necessary, but it is also fraught with the dangers of dogmatism, intolerance and absolutism. The exercise of religious conviction in the temporal sphere can – and has – led to the most merciless fanatism. In order to avoid these dangers, the process of moral and ethical reasoning must be articulated, and a profound appreciation of the boundaries between religious judgment and political one must be cultivated.

Ladies and gentlemen,
According to the theme of the ABC-9, “Bioethics in Asia: Healthy and Productive Life in Harmony with Nature”, let me quote Ismail Faruqi’s statement:
The nature of the cosmos is teleological, that is, purposive, serving a purpose of its Creator, and doing so of design. The world has not been created in vain, or in sport. It is not the work of a change, a happenstance. It was created in perfect condition. Everything that exists does so in a measure proper to it and fulfils a certain universal purpose. The world is indeed a “cosmos, an orderly creation, not a chaos”.

Ladies and gentlemen,
After months of active preparations and four days of intense and wearying conference in an atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding, the conference has come to an end. As a host of the conference, I would like to thank Dr. Darryl Macer, the Regional Adviser in Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO (Bangkok), Dr. Jayapaul Azariah, President of the Asian Bioethics Association, Prof. Umar A. Jenie, M.Sc., PhD., Chairman of the National Bioethics Commission (KBN)/Chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) who have trusted UIN Sunan Kalijaga to organize this conference. I also thank some key persons of the ABC-9 committee, Pak Amru, Pak Rohadi, Pak Agus, Pak Munawar, all members of the committee, and all participants for making the conference go smoothly and successfully.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Finally, I would like to apologize to all participants of our limited services in food, accommodation, transportation, etc. This is of course because of our limited fascilities, capacities, and human resources. Al ‘afwu minkum, ilalliqa’ fi sanah atiyah, see you next year in Tehran, Iran, syukran jazilan and thank you very much.
Wassalamu’alaikum wr. wb.