Religious leaders agree to pacify followers<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Fearing a local backlash due to the Middle East crisis, prominent
\nreligious leaders in the country agreed on Thursday to maintain
\npeace among their followers.<\/p>\n
Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Hasyim Muzadi said religious
\nfigures would uphold inter-religious harmony in society.<\/p>\n
The initiative has received full support from the government,
\nHasyim said, after a meeting between religious leaders and
\nMinister of Religious Affairs Said Agil al-Munawar.<\/p>\n
\"The movement is not connected with any particular case and
\nwill be conducted on a permanent basis to institutionalize unity,
\ntolerance and harmony between different religious communities,\"
\nsaid Hasyim, who heads the country's largest Muslim organization.<\/p>\n
Also present at the meeting were Muhammadiyah chairman Sjafiie
\nMaarif, head of the Indonesian Council of Bishops Julius Cardinal
\nDarmaatmadja, Rev. A.A. Yewangoe of the Indonesian Communion of
\nChurches and Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid.<\/p>\n
The statement came as around 1,500 activists of Muslim
\nhardline groups marched through Jakarta's main thoroughfares to
\nprotest the ongoing attacks on Palestine by Israeli troops. It
\nwas the biggest anti-Israel rally so far.<\/p>\n
Protesters from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), the Anti-
\nZionist Israel Movement (Gaza) and the Islamic Youth Movement
\n(GPI), stopped at the UN representative office on Jl. Thamrin in
\nCentral Jakarta after an eight-kilometer-long march from Al Azhar
\nMosque on Jl. Sisingamangaraja in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
They demanded the UN take more action than issuing resolutions
\nto make Israel withdraw its troops from Palestinian areas.<\/p>\n
While joining the condemnation of Israel's attacks on
\nPalestine, the religious leaders warned that the violence in the
\nMiddle East could revive sectarian conflicts in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"The Israeli action could be used to provoke certain religious
\nfollowers to perpetrate violence here,\" Hasyim said.<\/p>\n
Citing the deep concern expressed by Pope John Paul II over
\nthe attacks on Palestine, Archbishop Julius said the Catholic
\nChurch would blame whoever was at fault, regardless of their race
\nor religion.<\/p>\n
Julius noted that not all Palestinians were Muslims. \"Many
\nCatholic leaders were hurt by the attacks,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Yewangoe expressed his concern of the double standards applied
\nby the United States, which he said had failed to call Israel a
\nperpetrator of terrorism.<\/p>\n
He said there were efforts made to manipulate the definition
\nof terrorism so that it could be attributed to a nation that used
\nviolence in self defense.<\/p>\n
During the meeting the religious leaders also discussed a plan
\nto visit Ambon, the capital of Maluku province in the middle of
\nthe month to promote peace in the restive province.<\/p>\n
Separately, a delegation of 15 activists from the Hizbuttahrir
\nMuslim group on Thursday met deputy House speakers Muhaimin
\nIskandar and A.M. Fatwa to show their solidarity to the
\nPalestinian people.<\/p>\n
The group demanded that the Indonesian government send troops
\nthere to support the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Responding to the call, Muhaimin said the support for
\nPalestinian people should not necessarily mean a physical
\npresence in the strife-torn Middle East territory, but through
\nfinancial assistance or other possible measures.<\/p>\n
Speaking after a meeting with Vice President Hamzah Haz, U.S.
\nAmbassador Ralph L. Boyce said his government, including
\nPresident George W. Bush, had been deeply involved in seeking an
\nend to the violence and looking for a peaceful and equitable
\nsolution to the Middle East crisis.<\/p>\n
Boyce urged all sides to agree to a cease-fire and to return
\nto the negotiating table to prevent further senseless loss of
\nlife and to permit the peace process to move forward.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Jakarta urged the UN Security Council to
\nimmediately take concrete steps to deal with the Middle East
\ncrisis and deploy international security troops to enforce peace
\nand ensure the implementation of all UN resolutions on the issue.<\/p>\n
\"The Security Council should take all steps, especially by
\nordering the urgent deployment of an international security force
\nto the occupied Palestinian territories to bring this conflict to
\na speedy end,\" Indonesian Permanent Representative to the UN in
\nNew York Makmur Widodo said, in an open debate on the issue on
\nWednesday.<\/p>",
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