Source: catholic.org/UCA News

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=19942

On May 23, 2006 UCA News reported, "About 2,500 young people from six religions took part in an interfaith prayer service held to reinforce the climate of interreligious harmony in North Sulawesi province. The Interfaith Youth Celebration held May 15 was organized by the recently formed Interfaith Youth Forum of North Sulawesi. It took place at the auditorium of the gubernatorial office in Manado, the provincial capital, 2,115 kilometers (about 1,310 miles) northeast of Jakarta. Establishment of the forum, which was inaugurated March 27, was one of the recommendations from a provincial interreligious youth meeting in August 2005. Unlike most other parts of Muslim-majority Indonesia, North Sulawesi has a Christian majority. Protestants make up 72 percent of its 2.2 million people, and the 128,000 Catholics form another 5 percent. Muslims are the second-largest community at about 21 percent. Small Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian communities account for most of the rest of the people. Among those attending the interfaith celebration were North Sulawesi governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang, several military officials and Nadine Chandrawinata, Miss Indonesia 2005."