The president of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesia, yesterday called the actions of Islamic State (IS) militants “embarrassing” to the religion and urged Islamic leaders to unite in tackling extremism.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the scale of the slaughter wrought by the extremists in overrunning large swaths of Iraq and Syria and the level of violence being used were appalling.
“It is shocking. It is becoming out of control,” he said in an interview with The Australian, a day after Islamic State militants released a video showing a masked militant beheading US reporter James Foley, provoking worldwide revulsion.
Photo: Reuters
“We do not tolerate it, we forbid ISIS in Indonesia,” he added, referring IS by the acronym of its former name, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“Indonesia is not an Islamic state. We respect all religions,” he said.
Yudhoyono urged international leaders to work together to combat radicalization.
“This is a new wake-up call to international leaders all over the world, including Islamic leaders,” he said, adding that the actions of IS were not only “embarrassing” to Islam, but “humiliating,” the newspaper reported.
“All leaders must review how to combat extremism. Changing paradigms on both sides are needed — how the West perceives Islam and how Islam perceives the West,” he said.
Jakarta has estimated that dozens of Indonesians have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight and Yudhoyono said he was concerned about their return, adding that he had tasked agencies to oppose the spread of extremist ideology in the sprawling nation.
“Our citizens here in Indonesia are picking up recruitment messages from ISIS containing extremist ideas,” Yudhoyono said.
“The philosophy of ISIS stands against the fundamental values we embrace in Indonesia. Last Friday, in my state of the union address to the nation, I called on all Indonesians to reject ISIS and to stop the spread of its radical ideology,” he said.
“My government and security agencies have taken decisive steps to curtail the spread of ISIS in Indonesia, including by prohibiting Indonesians to join ISIS or to fight for ISIS, and also by blocking Internet sites that promote this idea,” he said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday said IS was “as close to pure evil as we’re ever likely to find” and what happened to Foley was “sickening.”
Meanwhile, Qatar, accused by a German minister of financing IS jihadists, yesterday condemned the group’s beheading of Foley as a “crime against the principles of Islam.”
Qatar’s foreign ministry “expressed in strongest terms its condemnation of the killing of US journalist James Foley at the hands of a criminal group,” in a statement published by the official QNA news agency.
“This despicable crime ... is against the principles of Islam and humanity, and violates human values and international law,” said the Qatari statement, lamenting the loss of a journalist “known for his courage in covering events” in danger zones, including Syria.
Doha’s reaction comes a day after German Development Aid Minister Gerd Mueller accused Qatar of financing IS jihadists.
“A story like this always has a history,” Mueller said in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF. “Who is financing these troops? Hint: Qatar.”
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama on Wednesday said that the entire world was “appalled” by the videotaped beheading of Foley, speaking as US warplanes conducted 14 airstrikes in Iraq and the US Department of State asked the Pentagon to send as many as 300 more US troops to Iraq for security.
“The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people,” Obama said from Martha’s Vineyard, where he was vacationing. “We will be vigilant and we will be relentless.”
Obama’s remarks came hours before administration officials said that he had authorized a secret mission last month to rescue Foley and other US hostages in a remote area of Syria.
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