Jakarta – Former national human rights commission chief Marzuki Darusman encouraged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to accept the religious freedom award despite the polemic.

"We witnessed controversies when Obama and the EU were granted Nobel prizes. We should not make a big deal out of controversy," Marzuki, a former general attorney, said on Friday.

He suggested Yudhoyono acknowledge the current interreligious conflicts in his recipient's speech.

Yudhoyono is to receive the World Statesman Award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) on May 30 in New York. The plan brought protests from rights activists who say Yudhoyono did not deserve the award and should be held responsible for many religious conflicts in the last eight years.(nai/dic)