Russia woos Islamic world in quest for OIC membership

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Russia, the former communist superpower, has said it wants to join the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). One may wonder that a country like Russia, whose population is mostly secular, truly intends to join the world's leading Islamic organization.

Yet, it is true. Russia wants to join the OIC because of the growing importance of Islam and its 1.3 billion followers in world affairs, and to enhance cooperation with Islamic nations, said Russian Ambassador at Large Veniamin Popov.

Popov, who came to Jakarta last week as part of a global mission to boost Russia's relations with the Islamic world, told The Jakarta Post and Kompas in an exclusive interview that Russia, home to some 20 million Muslims, qualifies in all aspects as an OIC member.

"If a country like Guyana, whose Muslim population is just 9 percent of its total population, can become an OIC member, why not Russia, whose Muslim population is higher than the total number of Muslims in Malaysia and several Asian and African Muslim states?" said Popov.

In fact, some OIC members have a Muslim population that is just under 20 percent of the national population. For example, Gabon, whose Muslim population is about 4 percent of its total population, became an OIC member in 1974. (see table)

The Post asked Popov the reasons behind the Russian foreign policy to woo the Muslim community.

"In the post-Sept. 11 world, especially among Western countries, there are negative perceptions about Muslims. But Russia believes Muslims have nothing to do with terrorism and in every religion, we have extremist groups that resort to violence and kill innocent people. We advocate a 'dialog of civilizations' to solve these existing conflicts," he said, adding that Islam was the youngest, peaceful religion.

He rejected the assertion of some analysts that Russia wanted to exploit the growing anti-American sentiment among Muslims.

"This is not true. We want to improve our overall relations with the Islamic world, and economic ties cannot be excluded in this context."

Popov, who admires Indonesia's Pancasila state philosophy and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) concept, said terrorists had no religion and no nationality.

"They are enemies of humankind," he said.

Russia, which is a pluralistic society, wants to learn more about moderate Islam and peaceful coexistence among various religions from Indonesia, Popov said.

Thanks to a higher birth rate, the world's Muslim community has also been growing faster than those of other religions.

"Within five to six years, the total number of Muslims may be equal the total number of Christians."

According to The Vatican Yearbook 2000, there are 1.9 billion Christians (Protestant) and 1.45 billion Catholics across 239 countries.

At present, there are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world, or 20 percent of the human population, and their numbers are growing at a tremendous pace -- in 1900, there were only 200 million Muslims in the world, or 12.3 percent of the human population.

Russia is no exception to this trend. Due to the religious revival after the fall of communism, all major religious communities have been expanding. Russia's 20 million Muslims now constitute about 13 percent of its 150 million-strong population.

"In 1991, there were 800 mosques in Russia. Now their number has gone up to over 7,000. Even in Moscow, we have one million Muslims in a population of 10 million," Popov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Popov, is very keen to improve relations with the 57-member OIC, which includes Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

In August 2003, Putin established a new division, the Islamic Factor, under the ministry of foreign affairs.

Popov is head of the Islamic Factor division.

Russia was admitted as a guest to the 10th OIC summit in October in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Putin roused Islamic leaders to an ovation when he said terrorism should not be equated with any religion.

Russia will continue with its efforts to obtain observer status in the OIC and later, full membership, Popov said.

"With only a 5 percent Muslim population, Thailand achieved observer status in the OIC in 1998. I think Russia will also get it."

Russia is also planning to establish an Islamic university in Moscow this year.

During his stay in Jakarta, Popov met with Vice President Hamzah Haz and other government figures, as well as religious leaders from the largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah.