Indonesia backs OIC meeting on terrorism

Indonesia backs OIC meeting on terrorism

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Indonesian fully supports the agenda to address the improper
perception which links Islam with terrorism due to be addressed
in a meeting of Islamic ministers in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said the agenda to
be discussed in the ministerial meeting of the Organization of
Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries is of central concern
to Indonesia.

"We share the same point of view that Islam cannot be
associated with terrorists and the world should brush the
negative image of Islam aside," Marty told The Jakarta Post on
Saturday.

The Indonesian delegation will be led by Minister of Justice
and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra. Yusril replaces Minister
of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda, who is accompanying President
Megawati Soekarnoputri on her trip to four Asian countries.

Marty said that as the world's most populous Muslim country,
Indonesia had repeatedly called for an end to allegations that
Islam fostered terrorism.

Organizers have said that the goal of the coming OIC meeting
was to find the real definition of terrorism and look for the
roots of militancy. It is hoped the OIC meeting will lead to a
broader conference at the United Nations.

The OIC groups 57 Islamic countries. Muslims account for a
fifth of the world's population.

Marty said the Kuala Lumpur meeting would also address the
growing situation in the Middle East.

Indonesia, he said, will maintain its opposition to Israel's
action against Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

"Indonesia will continue to support the Palestinian cause and
has full respect for President Arafat in his fight for the
Palestine's freedom," he said.

But Israel's continued attacks and occupation of Palestinian
territory could very well dominate the three-day meeting which
some say is a major factor in the rise of Islamic militancy and
widespread anger in the Islamic world over the treatment of
Muslims.

"We consider those acts committed by Israel as state
terrorism," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was
quoted by Reuters as saying in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Syed Hamid also hinted that Israel's campaign against the
Palestinian Authority would also be a prominent theme in the
OIC's rejection of any expansion in the U.S.-led war on terrorism
would be discussed during the three-day meeting.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes to the heart of Islam's
uneasy relationship with Islamic militancy. Most Islamic
countries say Israel's occupation of Arab land is a main reason
Muslim militants have turned to violence.

"It is not possible when you want to solve the issue of
international terrorism to see these things happening...It
doesn't look right," the Malaysian minister said.

Minister who began arriving on Sunday also cited current
events in the Middle East as a point of concern to be discussed.

Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization's political department, blamed Washington for
allowing Israel to commit atrocities and to terrorize his people.

"We are sure that the Americans...have given them (Israel) the
green light to continue such atrocities and terrorism. This is
state terrorism," he told Malaysia's state-run Bernama news
agency on Sunday after arriving for the OIC meeting.

Meanwhile Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohamad Zarif
stressed the need for "the OIC to "differentiate between
terrorism and the struggle for self-determination and liberation
against oppression."

The presence of Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah will
ensure that the conference is not completely driven by events in
the Middle East.

The ministers are also expected to cite poverty, low literacy
as well as political oppression as reasons why some Muslims have
resorted to militancy.