Panel on Human Rights and Religious Freedom in Asia to be held at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – There will be a panel on human rights and religious freedom in Asia on Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Room 519 of the Hogan Campus Center. Sponsored by the Asian Studies Concentration and the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies, the panel is free and open to the public.

The speakers will specifically address cases from contemporary Indonesia, India and China. The panel is intended to provoke discussion and debate concerning the issue of human rights in Asia. The structure of the presentations will also allow ample time for dialogue with the audience.

The speakers are as follows:

Christianto Wibisono will speak on the tensions between Islamic law and the secular democratic state in Indonesia. Wibisono was a personal assistant to the former Indonesian Vice-President H. Adam Malik and as founder of the Indonesia Business Data Center, played a key role in exposing corruption in the Soeharto regime.

Rev. John C.B. Webster will speak on the condition of "Christian Dalits" (Untouchables) in contemporary India. In his work as both pastor and scholar, Webster has become one of the leading authorities on the subject of Untouchable converts to Christianity in India. He is a member of the Worldwide Ministries Division of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.).

Liu Binyan was the leading investigative reporter for the People's Daily but was denied return to his native China after his criticism of the Tianamen Massacre in 1989. Now affiliated with the Princeton Asia Initiative and Radio Free Asia, Binyan will speak on "Human Rights in the Chinese Mind."