Religious leaders meet to counter extremism

Religious leaders meet to counter extremism

Agencies, Canberra/Jakarta

A meeting of religious leaders from Southeast Asia this weekend will promote moderation and send a strong message of opposition to religious extremists as part of the war on terror, representatives of the Australian and Indonesian governments said on Friday.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda will co-host the International Dialog on Interfaith Cooperation at Yogyakarta on Monday and Tuesday. Indonesia's Islamic organization Muhammadiyah will also organize the meeting.

Ten religious and community leaders and interfaith experts from six countries grouped in the Southwest Pacific Dialog forum -- Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and East Timor -- and each of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, will attend the dialog.

"The theme of this dialog is how to empower moderates within religions across our region," Hassan told reporters.

"This will send a strong message to radicals and militants that we are united against radicalism," he said after the meeting of Southwest Pacific countries in Victor Harbor in the south Australia state of Adelaide.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to open the dialog on Monday.

"The ministers welcomed an innovative approach to empower religious moderates through the convening of an Interfaith Dialog in Yogyakarta from Dec. 6 to Dec. 7 ... The ministers are keen that this dialog can highlight the religious values shared in Asia Pacific nations. The dialog could become part of an ongoing process to address the circumstances that may foster terrorism," according to a joint statement from the Southwest Pacific dialog meeting released in Jakarta on Friday.

Downer said he hoped the inaugural interfaith dialog would be the start of a successful attempt to counter religious extremism by empowering moderates in the region and fostering a common resolve to fight terror.

"I think that this meeting is going to be, in time -- not in the short term, but in time -- very helpful in terms of promoting the message of moderation, in countering terrorism," he was quoted by Reuters.

The Southwest Pacific Dialog was attended by foreign ministers from six above-mentioned countries. The ministers discussed a range of issues like counter-terrorism and maritime cooperation, transnational crimes and development challenges (economic growth, human resources development, HIV/AIDS and other epidemics).

The Southwest Pacific dialog forum was set up in Oct. 5, 2002 in Yogyakarta, on Indonesia's initiative. Member countries host the ministerial level meetings successively every year, and the dialog has also taken place at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Next year's dialog will be held in New York, on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting at UN. The Philippines will host the meeting in 2006.