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More than 100 politicians and activists met on Monday to affirm that the country’s ethnic pluralism is a source of strength and should not be politicized, in yet another reaction to comments last week that the nation was not yet ready for a non-Javanese president.

The discussion, organized by media outlet Rakyat Merdeka Online, was prompted by presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng’s reported remark in Makassar on Wednesday that it was not yet time for the country to be led by a member of the Bugis ethnic group, the predominant ethnicity in South Sulawesi, where presidential candidate Vice President Jusuf Kalla hails from.

Salahuddin Wahid, the Javanese chairman of the People’s Integrity Board, a nongovernmental organization that represents 45 religious groups and political parties, said that Andi’s statement was inappropriate because the selection of a presidential candidate should have nothing to do with ethnicity.

Andi, who is also from South Sulawesi, allegedly made the comments at a rally in support of his Javanese boss, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, declaring him and running mate Boediono as the best people to lead the country.

Salahuddin, the brother of former President Abdurrahman Wahid, said, “We should choose a candidate who has good integrity and can improve the country — those things have nothing to do with ethnicity.”

If Kalla wins the election on Wednesday, he said, it would prove that any Indonesian could be president, regardless of ethnicity. This would represent a breakthrough over the current mind-set that a president should be Javanese, he said.

“Based on the Constitution, anyone can be president,” Salahuddin said.

Hundreds of South Sulawesi natives demonstrated in Denpasar, Bali, on Monday to protest Andi’s statement.

They demanded an apology, but Andi, denying that his comments were racist, said he would not apologize.