Blair praises Indonesia's moderate Islam during visit
British PM lauds 'liberal attitudes,' but avoids country's poor human rights record.
As British Prime Minister Tony Blair met for talks with President Yudhoyono Thursday, in the first visit to Indonesia by a British prime minister in 21 years, he lavished praise on the country's moderate style of Islam, and its turnaround from a dictatorship to a "rowdy democracy." But the
Times of London reports that while Blair had
nice things to say about Islam, he didn't comment on Indonesia's human rights record, which was recently slammed in the US State Department's annual report on global human rights.
"Terrorism takes many different forms and is committed by both state and non-state actors," Tapol, the British human rights group, wrote in a letter to Mr. Blair, asking him to raise concerns with Mr. Yudhoyono. It is safe to assume that it will be ignored.
The Guardian reports that Blair's office
replied to the criticism by saying that Indonesia was a "country in transition" and that it has come a long way since it had democratically elected its president in 1998. But a spokeswoman for Amnesty International said, "Indonesia has one of the worst human rights records and it's not a place where a country like Britain should be compromising on human rights."
The
Financial Times reports that after the meeting, Blair said that Britain would
normalize its defense relationship with Indonesia, saying that the two countries were entering a "new relationship." Britain wants to strengthen its anti-terrorism ties with Jakarta, which would result in a change in its current policies. Britain has limited weapons and equipment sales in recent years because of past human rights violations by the Indonesian military.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the prime minister's office said
it was the "right time" to repair relationships with the country:
"It's the right place because Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world."Right people because it's the largest Muslim country in the world, with 210 million Muslims. "Right politics because under its current president it is not only committed to democracy but also to clean up corruption and putting in place a proper judicial system.
"It's also the right time because it's very much in favour of building up a coalition of moderate opinion against extremist fundamentalist Islamic opinion."
Blair also announced that the two countries would "set up a joint Islamic council with participation from religious leaders in both countries," according to the Financial Times.While in Jakarta, Blair met with several of the country's Islamic leaders. But if he was expecting a warm reception, he must have been disappointed. The religious leaders
criticized Blair, according to ITV, for refusing to negotiate with the new Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories.
Ireland On-Line reports that the also told him that Britain's involvement in Iraq
was encouraging extremism.
The five Islamic leaders, known as moderates on social and political issues, urged Blair to withdraw British troops from Iraq and talk to the recently-elected Hamas government in the West Bank during a discussion at the presidential palace. "He didn't respond specifically to our requests, but hopefully he will wake up and realize our suggestions make good sense," said Din Syamsudin, leader of the country's second largest Muslim group Muhammadiah.
"We told him to withdraw his troops from Iraq because the occupation is only promoting more radicalism and new acts of terrorism," Syamsudin said in Jakarta.
MSNBC reports that Blair also faced some faced some
tough questions from children during a visit to an Islamic school. "Do you ever ask your best friend George W. Bush to stop the war in Iraq?" a 13-year-old boy asked Blair. "I think we will not agree about Iraq and the decision to remove the government there," Blair responded.
Meanwhile,
MosNews reports that Indonesia will buy
eight Russian Sukhoi jet fighters over the next four years. Russia will also give Indonesia a $1 billion loan, of which $200 million will go to buy Russian Mi-17 combat helicopters.
TMCNet reports that the decision to go with the Russian helicopters means a loss for
America's Boeing Company, whose Chinook helicopterthe Indonesian military had also been considering.
Also...
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Acehnese unsure peace will last: Poll (Jakarta Post)
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Security services 'not to blame' for London bombings (Guardian)
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Tom Regan
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