Mutual respect needed

I express my sympathy to the victims and those who have lost family members and friends in the London explosions. As a Muslim I personally condemn the attacks and wish that the people behind the bombings were not from an Islamic background.

Islam doesn't teach us to kill or hurt innocent people. Even if sometimes the U.S./Britain kill innocent people in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the world, by accident or on purpose, in their military actions and policies toward Islamic countries (versus Israel), Islam doesn't teach us to take revenge by acting in the same way they do.

Because if we do, it means that we Muslims are the same as them. Muslims are and have to be more than just that. So if somebody claims this horrible action in the name of Islam, don't buy it. Because by killing innocent people who know nothing and have nothing to do with anything, they don't deserve to call themselves Muslims.

The bombings in London (and other parts of the world) also shows that the U.S. policy, supported by the British government, is not making the world a safer place. George Bush always claims that his "aggressive policy" toward Islamic countries in the Middle East will make the world safer, more democratic and freer. On the contrary, there is now more violence and terrorist attacks in the world.

Is the U.S. and British policy toward the Islamic world wrong? Because they have failed to prove that their policy will make the world as better place?

Maybe it is time for the U.S. and Britain to evaluate their policy toward the Islamic world and their policy on Palestine vs. Israel (the mother of all problems regarding Islam-Western relations). It is not that we surrender to terrorism, but maybe it is time to try another approach toward the Islamic world, in full mutual respect, in order to make Muslims more democratic, educated and prosperous.

DENIS SAPUTRA, Jakarta