SBY's proposed side visit to Israel

SBY's proposed side visit to Israel

Emanuel Shahaf's reasoning behind President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono's proposed side visit to Israel whom the former claims
would represent the views of the world's biggest Muslim country
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (The Jakarta Post, July 19:
Susilo should visit Israel too) is merely an oversimplification
of facts and argument.

One fact that needs to be understood is that even though the
majority of Indonesians embrace Islam most are overwhelmingly
nationalistic and secularistic rather than theocratic. Indonesia
has never pursued a policy that is discriminative toward any
country's social, religious or political affiliation, for it had
in the past -- until the present -- advocated a policy of non-
alignment and non-discrimination.

As the world experienced a heated debate concerning "religious
extremism" post the September 11 bombings in New York, Indonesia
was swift enough to distance itself from the discourse by
stressing that acts of terror neither reflect nor represent a
particular religion.

Palestine's continuing struggle for a separate and free
homeland is solid evidence that independence transcends religious
values for it is the most basic right of any nation as indicated
in the recent Declaration of the New Asian-African Strategic
Partnership in April this year.

Indonesia is indeed a mainstay of Islamic moderation, progress
and democracy. Nevertheless, Indonesia cannot simply ignore the
voices of freedom in Palestine. Therefore, the real issue is
about foreign occupation and the right of the Palestinian
people to self-determination.

KAMAPRADIPTA I.
Jakarta