Muhammadiyah condemns invasion of Iraq as rallies continues

Muhammadiyah condemns invasion of Iraq as rallies continues

The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta

The country's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah officially condemned on Monday the United States-led strike on Iraq, while more people took to streets across the country to join worldwide rallies against the war.

In a press statement issued in Yogyakarta, Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif said the war in Iraq was nothing more than a fight between the forces of humanity around the world and the uncivilized force of the U.S. and its allies.

"This is the war against humanity and civilization. It has nothing to do with religion, the West or the East," Syafii said.

He said Muhammadiyah also called on all Indonesian people throughout the country to join in a show of solidarity through peaceful and non-violent actions.

Muhammadiyah, which boasts 30 million followers, is considered a moderate Islamic organization and representative of Indonesia's Muslims along with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim group in the country.

NU has yet to issue an official statement in response to the Iraq war, which has now entered its fifth day.

Syafii and NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi were invited to the U.S. last year in the wake of the global war against terrorism. Both recently turned down Washington's invitation for another visit to express their opposition to the U.S. plan to attack Iraq.

Syafii said all attempts to justify the U.S. strike on Iraq were "nonsensical and irrational".

"I just cannot understand why they ordered all the countries in the world to expel Iraqi ambassadors from their respective countries. What an order!" an enraged Syafii quipped.

Muhammadiyah also demanded that major countries opposing the war like France, China, Russia and Germany exert pressure through the United Nations or other international institutions on the U.S. and its allies to halt the offensive on Iraq.

In Jakarta, the House of Representatives joined the chorus of condemnation of the U.S.-led attack on Iraq and called the countries to leave Iraq and rebuild the damaged infrastructure and to provide compensation for the loss of human life.

In its statement signed by Speaker Akbar Tandjung, the House supported the government's initiative to pursue an emergency meeting at the UN to stop the war. The legislators also threw their weight behind antiwar rallies, but called on people to express their view in line with the law.

The statement was issued after a House leadership meeting attended by Akbar, his deputy speakers and all faction and commission leaders.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) demanded that Jakarta stop cooperation with Washington under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and call off negotiation on cooperation with DFID (Department for International Development) and the Australia Agency for International Development (AusAID) to protest against the war.

It also called on prodemocracy and non-governmental organizations around the world to fight the act of aggression and imperialistic move by the U.S and its allies.

More rallies against the war were seen in various cities across the country, including Jakarta, Cirebon, Semarang, Purwokerto and Makassar.

In the West Java town of Cirebon, hundreds of police were deployed to guard the British American Tobacco factory, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants and Dunkin' Donuts bakery in anticipation of rallies targeting U.S. business interests.

In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, students pasted a sign reading "closed" on the front door of McDonald's fast-food restaurant in downtown Ciputra shopping mall.

Along with supporters of various parties, the protesters moved to the legislature, forcing a 30 minute delay in a plenary meeting to hear the accountability speech of Governor Mardiyanto.

In Jakarta, for the first time since the wave of antiwar rallies began last Thursday, high school students joined in the movement.

Dozens of school students grouped under Muhammadiyah Youth staged a protest outside the U.S. Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta. But unlike the raucous demonstration held by Persatuan Islam (Persis), also outside the embassy, the students expressed their protest with flowers.

While the Muslim activists said the war was targeting Islam, the students said the war had sacrificed human rights.

In Yogyakarta, police questioned a Spanish student for participating in an antiwar protest. Police officer Comr. Richard Nainggolan said the foreign student, identified as Caldo Bicasalos, had violated his study visa by joining the demonstration.

Bicasalos, who studies international relations at Gadjah Mada University's school of social and political sciences, was later released.