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World Bank urges Indonesia to fight extremism
JAKARTA, April 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia must deal sternly with a rising tide of violent extremism, World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz said on Thursday, while praising its transition from authoritarian rule to a democracy."I do think that there's nothing about either democratic institutions or free institutions that say you have to tolerate law breakers," he told a news conference at the end of a three-day visit to the world's most populous Muslim nation. "I think it's very important when you encounter that kind of extremism it (be) dealt with very firmly," Wolfowitz, who served as a U.S. ambassador to Indonesia in the 1980s, added. About 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslims. Most are moderates, but militant groups have been increasingly vocal in recent years. Several deadly bombing attacks in Indonesia have been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Southeast Asia militant network Jemaah Islamiah, including blasts in Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people. A few other militant Islamic groups have resorted to a lesser scale of violence such as smashing up night clubs or massage parlours in Jakarta and so-called "sweeping" efforts aimed at intimidating foreigners. Indonesian police have been criticised for doing little to interfere or arrest perpetrators in some of these low-level incidents, although they have an impressive record of finding and prosecuting those involved with bombings. During his trip, Wolfowitz also urged Jakarta to combat corruption as it was affecting the development of the country. Posted by: ryuge 2006-04-13 |
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