Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says that the world is trying to portray Muslims as terrorists. "Certainly Muslims will reject being regarded as the masterminds of terrorism in this world." Well, certainly there are other terrorist groups in the world, but which one has a global extension anything like that of Islamic radicalism? Also, while of course not all Muslims are terrorists, Islamic terrorists do make extensive use of Islamic theology and law to justify their actions. I'd be interested to know what, if anything, Yudhoyono is doing to counter their recruitment initiatives in the Islamic world. From AFP, with thanks to Stephen Bloch:
“We truly feel sad if world opinion, deliberately or not, aims to put Muslims in a corner as identical with violence and terrorism,” he was quoted as saying by the official Antara news agency in a speech welcoming the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.“Certainly Muslims will reject being regarded as the masterminds of terrorism in this world,” said Yudhoyono, who took office last month vowing to fight such violence.
Over the past two years Indonesia has been hit by three major bombings which authorities blame on the Jemaah Islamiyah regional extremist group.
The most serious attack killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali in October, 2002. A bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta last year killed 12 while the most recent attack, the month before Yudhoyono took office, killed 11 people outside the Australian embassy.
Yudhoyono said Islam taught peace and justice. “We are ordered to keep away from violence and arbitrary acts,” he said before calls of “Allah-o-Akbar (God is the greatest)” floated over Jakarta yesterday morning as the faithful gathered for prayers following a night of celebrations.
Have news for Bambang Yudhoyono. MUSLIMS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 98.8% OF TERRORIST ACTS GLOBALLY!
Yes, Muslims ARE being perceived as TERRORISTS. Now why would that be...?
Indo President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono[SBY] states that not all muslims are terrorists.This jerk is a muslim,so what can we expect.
Tapol, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
TAPOL STATEMENT
28 September 2004
ANOTHER GENERAL TAKES CHARGE
It is a bitter irony that the first direct presidential election to be held in Indonesia has resulted in another general taking power.
Although the official results will not be made public until 5 October, it is already clear that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won comprehensively against Megawati Sukarnoputri. The reasons are not difficult to fathom. Although she had the advantage of being the incumbent, Megawati was a huge disappointment as president and was surrounded by unsavoury characters, not least her husband, Taufiq Kiemas, a man renowned for corruption and double-dealing. Yudhoyono on the other hand was able to present himself as a clean and incorruptible politician whose demeanour in the run-up to the election on 20 September won plaudits from commentators and the press. There was no civilian politician to match him.
The 2004 presidential election established a new tradition. By and large, voters did not cast their votes in accordance with political party affiliation; they voted according to personal preferences. The decision by Akbar Tanjung, the leader of GOLKAR, along with the leaders of other parties from the Suharto era, to back Megawati's presidential bid, failed to secure her election. This is likely to lead to a major overhaul in the leaderships of GOLKAR and the PDI-P, Megawati's party.
However, the presidential election shows clearly that the military continue to play a very significant role in political affairs in Indonesia. In the first round held in July, five teams competed to become president and vice president and of the ten contestants, five were from the military. As none of the contestants broke through the fifty per cent threshold, a re-run was held on 20 September.
While Yudhoyono succeeded in projecting the image of a democrat and has frequently spoken of the need for the reform of the armed forces, his military career reveals him as a man with a strong sense of dedication to the military's role in society.
When he first joined the army, his idol was Sarwo Edhie whom he once extolled as 'the epitome of a true soldier'. Sarwo Edhie was one of the most ruthless officers to serve under Suharto. He was largely responsible for the massacre of hundreds of thousands of communist suspects in 1965-1966, and later played a leading role in crushing Papuan resistance in the run-up to the Act of Free Choice in 1969. Yudhoyono subsequently married Sarwo Edhie's daughter.
Yudhoyono has served twice in Kostrad, the Strategic Army Command, first as commander of an airborne battalion and later as commander of one of its infantry battalions. He did two tours of duty in East Timor under Indonesian occupation, was commander of the Yogyakarta military command and served for a period in the UN peace-keeping force in Bosnia.
In the mid-1990s, he was chief of staff of the Jakarta military command, a position that he occupied when troops under his command took part in an assault on 27 July 1996 on the headquarters in Jakarta of the PDI (the previous name of the PDI-P), the party chaired by Megawati. The attack resulted in a number of fatalities yet the incident has never been investigated and no one has been called to account. As always, the military have been safeguarded from any accountability because of the impunity they continue to enjoy.
After retiring from the army with the rank of lieutenant-general in 2000, Yudhoyono became Minister-Coordinator for Politics and Security in the government of Abdurrahman Wahid. This appointment was criticised by several human rights organisations; Hendardi, director of the human rights organisation, PBHI, warned that it would jeopardise attempts to investigate the role of the army and of Yudhoyono in the 27 July 1996 attack. Hendardi was also critical of the presence of a military officer as a top-ranking member of Wahid's government. Even so, Yudhoyono subsequently held the same position in the government of Megawati, after Wahid resigned, facing the threat of impeachment.
Yudhoyono surrounded himself with a number of retired military officers in the kitchen cabinet which assisted him in his presidential bid. They include:
Major-General Sudi Silalahi, an assistant to the commander of the Jakarta garrison in 1998, who allegedly helped provoke riots and the burning of shops and businesses while troops looked, just before Suharto's downfall. In 2000, when he was military commander in East Java, he allowed thousands of members of an extremist Muslim group, Laskar Jihad, to travel from Surabaya to Ambon to join clashes between Muslims and Christians
former defence minister under Suharto, General Edy Sudradjat
Suharto-era Minister for State Empowerment Lieutenant-General T.B. Silalahi, closely associated with the business tycoon Tomy Winata who has successfully brought defamation charges against several journalists
former intelligence chief under Suharto, Major-General Syamsir Siregar
Admiral Widodo who was commander in chief of the armed forces and Minister-Coordinator for Political and Security Affairs
former chief of staff of the armed forces for social-political affairs Lieutenant-General Moch Ma'ruf.
These men could well be appointed to key cabinet positions, such as heading the interior or defence ministries.
One of the most controversial bills awaiting adoption is the armed forces bill which, as presently drafted, will give the military special powers in conditions of an emergency. Under such circumstances, men like these with experience in both military and civilian posts, could reverse the advances towards democracy that have been achieved since the fall of Suharto.
While Yudhoyono has often spoken of the need for the reform of the armed forces, nothing has come of these intentions although he has had plenty of opportunity as a senior member in two post-Suharto cabinets to put his words into action.
Although Yudhoyono has announced that his government will take action to combat widespread corruption and attempt to reverse the country's economic decline, it remains to be seen whether he can achieve these objectives.
The key issues on which his presidency will be tested are:
Resolving the conflict in Aceh by peaceful means, through the resumption of peace talks with GAM, the Free Aceh Movement, and ending the current military operations there.
Reversing the decision to split West Papua into three provinces which has provoked widespread criticism from Papuans, and agreeing to enter into dialogue with Papuan representatives on a range of issues, including the future political status of West Papua.
A thorough overhaul of the draft law on the armed forces, in particular reversing the provision that allows serving officers to hold positions in national and local administrations.
Announcing a firm commitment to uphold basic human rights, in particular freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and seeking a reversal of a court decision to sentence the editor of Tempo to a one-year prison term on a charge of defamation.
Announcing a firm commitment to overhaul and cleanse the judiciary, and announcing a commitment to the rule of law and the ending of impunity.
Well, since he obviously doesn't know what's going on in his own country, maybe we should all send him this link so he can catch a clue:
://www.indonesiawatch.org/welcome.php
Since 1997 Indonesia has been tossed and turned by all kinds of storms, economic, political, racial, social and religious. Some of these storms have been constant and unrelenting. Others have been coming and going in cycles. But where are all these storms taking us?
Indonesia Watch consists of many people in a number of nations who are very concerned about what future we will give to our children and grandchildren. The future is in danger of being hijacked by extremists who desire to destroy freedom and to enslave humanity in a reign of tyranny that allows only one system of religion, one system of politics, one system of economics and one system of social organization. That's why we have decided not to remain silent.
Indonesia Watch will be a voice for freedom of choice.
We invite you to read and analyze our reports and to be free to correspond with us. You may agree. You may disagree. That's freedom of choice. That's a basic human right and we defend your freedom to disagree with us.
It is because we cherish freedom that we have chosen not to openly reveal our identities for to do so could cost us our freedoms and even our lives.
Every single time a muslim says that Islam is a religion of peace, more and more people believe it less and less.
The article said:
"Certainly Muslims will reject being regarded as the masterminds of terrorism in this world, said Yudhoyono,"
Oh? Just how do they reject this? By being silent? By lashing out with insults and accusations against Non-Muslims instead of against radicals?
"Yudhoyono said Islam taught peace and justice."
Submission...and...Jihad.
Islam does not police itself. Islam does not clean up it's own problems.
It's not only the Islamists terrorism that's
giving this impression of Muslims being connected to violence,it's the deafening silence from the rest of the Muslims when our ears are still ringing from the last suicide-bomber.
If the collective actions of Muslims have nothing to do with the teachings of Islam,then
Islam has nothing to do with Muslims and is an un-attainable faith that even Muhammed couldn't live by because of his pedophilia and murdering of God's children for Allah.
ISLAM MUST Gogh FROM HOLLAND
Muslims are not terrorists?
And I just bumped into Elvis at the mini-mart....
Aside from the corrupt President of Mexico Vincente Fox on Hannity & Colmes saying that the fence jumpin' Mexicans sneaking into the U.S. weren't illegal because they provide cheap labor.....this has got to be the most outlandish statement I've heard in a long while.
"...certainly there are other terrorist groups in the world, but which one has a global extension anything like that of Islamic radicalism?"
None, of course, but compare for yourself. Here's a compilation of ongoing armed conflicts:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904550.html
If Muslims are not terrorists and Islam is not a belief system that encourages terror (read predation against one's neighbors for the purpose of overrunning the culture and imposing one's own), why, then, has history demonstrated Islam's propensity for this behavior? How is it that when Islam feels confident and sees an opening, expansion begins at the expense of non-Muslims? Just because Muslims say that they aren't supporting terror or jihad doesn't make it so. There is more than sufficient historical evidence to show the lie of this claim.
I am getting a bit disappointed in muslims...are they not creative at all? Its the same thing over and over and over...phaleeeeze get some new advertising....and thats only because it will be fun to pick apart and discredit anything new they have to say...unless it is the truth....but truth is 'against islam' is it not.
I guess this joker thinks we've forgotten what Indonesia did to East Timor for 20 years or so until the Australians went in there and cleaned house (and reaped the whirlwind in Bali).
Open memo to Indonesia's President Yudhoyono:
Apparently you believe that Islam is non-violent. You claim that Muslims are not perpetrators of terrorism. Apparently, you believe this as well. The difficulty you are encountering is that many, many Muslims do NOT believe this statement OR you, and will not be bound by you or your statement either. It is impossible for you to control or even assume responsibility for the actions of one billion, four hundred million individuals. They will act autonomously, and, if they so choose, some of their actions may prove violent (and you have nothing to say about it).
Mr. Yudhoyono, you have no control over the global situation. Human beings will do what they choose to- including perpetrating acts of terrorism. Anyone at all could be a terrorist if they chose to become one. Muslims could not be excluded and in fact the last time I read the newspaper I saw that muslims were indeed perpetrating acts of terror--the 2002 Kuta Beach bombings were classic acts of terrorism, fitting the defionition to a 't'. You are setting yourself up for failure because no matter what you say or do, there WILL be followers of Islam who commit violent acts in the name of Islam--they do not need you to utter irrelevancies about what they think,say or do. We suspect what you intended to say is that mainstream followers of Islam do not support terrorism, something that 'the jury is still out' on. In a single night, Muhammed, Islam's nominal founder, is believed to have beheaded 830 Jewish persons without provocation and for no other reason than that they were followers of the Judaic faith. Today that episode would be classified as terrorism (at best).
If you truly wish to stem the tide of religious violence in nations such as your own, it would be better for your governmment to stifle all Islamic movements that advocate violence and killing (even if they are in mosques)and passing legislation to quash such terror acts before they are perpetrated than to attempt to deny their existence.
Welcome to earth and good luck running Indonesia--we have a hunch you'll need it.
PYTHAGORAS
World opinion is trying to portray Muslims as terrorists?
Why might that be?
What nonsense! Why should we even remotely suspect that they have anything to do with terrorism?
Most of us are too smart to jump to wild conclusions and assumptions, that the yelling of "Allahu Akbar" is more likely to come from the mouths of Jews and Buddhists throwing bombs into crowded restaurants.
And who more precisely is it that is trying to defame Islam? It wouldn't be the evil Zionists by any chance? Would it?
What possible basis is there for any Muslim thinking that the world opinion takes this view of them?
In the case of Indonesia, this false accusation must come from the ethnic Chinese who most likely hold a grudge. They must have done something to deserve the rapes, murders and destruction at the hands of the true believers in the pogroms of 1998. Why else would normally peaceful muslims go and rape nine year old girls in the streets killing their parents in their presence? Also the Christians could have been behind the smear campaign. They have consistently provoked muslims into regular massacres through stubbornly failing to submit to Islam.
So Muslims should have no worries. There is no reason why anyone should think badly of them.
They must be just a bit oversensitive.