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22Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary IndonesiaPresident Thabo Mbeki. Further, my Delegation also would liketo express our deep appreciation to the people and Governmentof South Africa for the warm welcome and generous hospitalityextended to us and for hosting this important event. As wegather for this Conference, which surely deserves to become aprominent feature in this century%u2019s human rights calendar, wewish to congratulate you, Madam President, on your election,as well as the members of the Bureau on their respectiveelections to assist you in discharging your task. Let me assureyou of my delegation%u2019s fullest confidence in your ablestewardship to lead this Conference to a fruitful outcome.It is highly significant that this gathering should be held ina country which symbolizes the coming together of differentraces and cultures bent on overcoming their past differences tobuild a nation free from the shackles of apartheid. South Africaconstitutes an important example and an inspiration for thisConference through the heroic struggle of its people for equalityand justice, and through its contribution to the ongoing globalefforts to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia andrelated intolerance. This World Conference embodies the hopesof millions of people who aspire to see their situationacknowledged and, more importantly, remedied.History is replete with terrible wrongs inflicted through lackof respect for the equality of human beings, manifested throughcolonialism, wars of conquest, slavery, genocide, apartheid,ethnic cleansing and other atrocities. Despite a victory overapartheid, there nevertheless remains a plethora ofdiscriminatory laws and practices which affect the lives of wholecommunities in many parts of the world. In some regions, thesepractices have reached alarming proportions, marked by