'U.S. wants RI to unify democracy and Islam'

'U.S. wants RI to unify democracy and Islam'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The United States places importance on Indonesia's efforts to
combine democracy and Islam, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda said here on Monday.

Hassan said Indonesia was the world's third largest democracy
and the largest Muslim-populated country with over 80 percent of
its 215 million people following the faith.

"If we are able to combine democracy and Islam together, this
will be of importance to the United States," the minister told
Jakarta-based foreign correspondents at a luncheon, as quoted by
the Agence France Presse.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who visited Jakarta last
Friday, praised Indonesia as a Muslim nation which allows
"diversity to flower", as well as its move towards democracy.

Earlier, Powell secured promises from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, including
Indonesia, for continued cooperation in the war on terrorism.

Indonesia is to receive more than US$50 million from the
United States for new counter-insurgency programs.

Powell said Washington was prepared to expand military
cooperation with Indonesia, nearly three years after most
military ties were broken off over the 1999 violence in the
former Indonesia's province, East Timor.

U.S. officials believe Indonesia could play a crucial role in
ensuring that militant Islam does not spread. Washington has
concerns that Muslim extremists with alleged links to U.S.--most
wanted Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network may be living in
Indonesia.

Hassan defended the Indonesian government's failure so far to
arrest or detain radical Indonesian Muslim leaders on terrorism
charges.

"Our police have questioned them and we did not find, so far,
any hard evidence to arrest them," he said.

Police have questioned Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, a Muslim scholar
who heads the Indonesian Mujahidin Council, but did not detain
him. The scholar has been accused by Singapore of leading a
terror network active in the neighboring country, a charge he
denies.

Ja'far Umar Thalib, leader of the militant Laskar Jihad, is to
face trial for allegedly inciting violence in the Maluku islands.

Hassan said Indonesia had been combating terrorism for some
time, as shown by several agreements with fellow ASEAN member
countries and others.