Indonesia calls for renewed OIC commitment
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia has called on the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to maintain its commitment to resolutions issued by the organization in recent decades to improve the tarnished image of Islam.
As the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia urged on Tuesday the conference to withstand moves to link Islam with violence and terrorism.
"We must restructure the OIC and all member countries should stick to their commitment in representing Islam as a peaceful religion," Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said here before heading to the summit.
"The organization should come up with a new plan that could cast off the image of Islam as having a connection with violence and terrorism," he added.
The ministry's spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia would suggest streamlining the organization's secretariat.
"We also urge all member countries to look at hundreds of resolutions, whether they have been fully implemented or simply added to the long list of promises," he said on Tuesday.
He said the poor implementation of these resolutions would devalue the commitment of the OIC member countries to represent Islam.
Many have criticized the organization as an idle grouping due to the lack of a common stance between member countries in addressing various political issues.
Most of the time, the member countries simply share a general idea, such as condemning Israel's attack on Palestine, but each country has failed to translate the policy into actions.
Smith Alhadar, a Middle East observer, said the OIC was ineffective because of factionalism within the organization.
He observed the presence of at least three factions within the organization with different views in addressing various political and security issues.
First, the group of hard-liners whose members are often opposed to the United States, such as of Iran, Libya, Yemen and Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime.
Second, the moderate group consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia and others, whose stance is based on issues and not on interests.
Third, the conservative group which often supports the U.S. policies. This group comprises Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
Smith, from the Indonesian Society for Middle East Studies (ISMES), said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries were the main donors of the OIC.
"Since those countries are the loyal supporters of the U.S., the OIC fails to accommodate the interests of other Muslim countries," he said.
Taking Afghanistan as an example, Smith said the OIC failed to unite and give a strong response to prevent the U.S. from attacking Afghanistan to oust the al-Qaeda terrorist network, which was blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Smith said the calls for a revitalization of the OIC should be interpreted as efforts to empower the organization so that it could not be dictated to by certain countries, including the U.S.
"The revitalization of the OIC should also prompt member countries to clearly define what terrorism is. Only with a clear definition the OIC members can play an influential role in the global war against terrorism," he said.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is slated to leave for Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to attend the Summit.
She is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Kellen Berger.
Other non-OIC members invited are Russian President Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Gloria Arroyo.