RI, Algeria to preach peace-loving Islam

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia and Algeria, two Muslim-dominated countries, have agreed to join hands in promoting Islam as a religion of peace that renounces violence and terrorism.

"We agree that there should be concerted efforts to present Islam as a moderate, tolerant and peace-loving religion," President Megawati Soekarnoputri said at a joint media conference with visiting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday.

Bouteflika arrived here on Sunday for a four-day state visit, the first ever made by an Algerian president to the country.

Megawati underlined that the idea should be further pursued in the upcoming Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 16.

"Islam is a religion that shows tolerance to all people, regardless of background, race or faith," Megawati stressed.

President Bouteflika, meanwhile, said improving the image of Islam was part of a challenge faced by Muslim-dominated countries and should be addressed at the coming OIC meeting.

Muslim countries have come under the world's spotlight after terrorists associated with the international al-Qaeda network of Muslim terrorist Osama bin Laden turned passenger planes into deadly missiles that wreaked havoc in Washington and New York on Sept. 11, 2001, killing more than 3,000 people.

A string of terror attacks in the country have also been blamed on regional terrorist network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), believed to be the Southeast Asia wing of bin Laden's al-Qaeda.

More than 30 people have been arrested for their role in the Bali bombings that killed at least 202 people and injured over 300 others, and two of them had been sentenced to death by the Denpasar District Court.

Although the United States has repeatedly said that the global fight against terrorism was not directed against Islam, Muslim- dominated countries have had to accept the fact that their citizens have often come under close scrutiny in many parts of the world.

OIC member countries have continued to be divided and have failed to come up with a common strategy to counter the bad image.

During the media conference Megawati also said that there should be efforts to revitalize the OIC, but did not give any detail on how to achieve it.

"We believe that the root cause of terrorism is unjust treatment, both politically and economically, in many parts of the world," Megawati said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said after the briefing that Megawati proposed to host an international conference for Muslim and western scholars in February next year, to formulate further steps to be taken in correcting negative perceptions of Islam.

"We propose that the coming conference formulate how we should present Islam as a religion that blesses everybody," Hassan said.

Megawati also said that the two countries would like to see all parties in the Palestinian cause moving ahead with the peace road map proposed by the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the UN.

The two leaders also underlined that the UN should play a greater role in the postwar situation in Iraq, since the U.S. invasion.

The two presidents also witnessed the signing of three memorandums of understanding on tourism, fisheries and small and medium enterprises.

On Monday, the Algerian President also visited the state-owned Krakatau Steel industrial complex at Cilegon, West Java. On Tuesday, he is slated to visit the Jababeka Industrial Estate and Bogor presidential palace, where Megawati will host a breakfast for the visiting president.

The last leg of his Indonesia trip will be a visit to Yogyakarta on Wednesday, to see the temple at Borobudur, one of the wonders of the world.

He will leave for Kuala Lumpur after the visit to Yogyakarta.