Former Indonesian leader calls for change to Muslim laws

Former Indonesian leader calls for change to Muslim laws

Agence France-Presse
Seoul

Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday called
for a review of Muslim laws after the Sept. 11 attacks in the
United States to develop "a culture of peace."

Speaking at a Seoul conference, the former leader of the
world's most populous Muslim nation said the religion had to
change because "Muslims are the object of so many attacks because
of what happened in New York on Sept. 11."

Wahid proposed that Muslim scholars first look again at laws
which make it punishable by death to change from Islam to another
religion.

"To change from the Muslim faith to another is an apostasy and
apostasy is punishable by death," Wahid told a conference on
religion and peace organized by the Unification Church.

"We have to research to look deeply into Islamic law to see if
changes can be promoted."

Wahid said Islam had to introduce more of "a culture to
understand other people" to fully establish "a culture of peace."

"I want to show the depth of Islam's commitment to peace,"
Wahid added in his address.

Wahid led Indonesia's largest Islamic organization, the
Nahdlatul Ulama which claims 30 million members, for 15 years
until he became president in October 1999.

He is known for his progressive views on Islam.

When he was president he caused a furor among Muslim parties
for his plan to open trade ties with Israel. The plan came to
nothing.

Indonesia's top legislature sacked him in July 2001 for
alleged incompetence, replacing him with Megawati Soekarnoputri.