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| Southeast Asia |
| Most Indonesian Muslims want militants arrested |
| 2002-10-30 |
| A majority of people in the world's most populous Muslim country want a crackdown on the militant groups that have brought Indonesia's government into disrepute and blighted the economy, former president Abdurrahman Wahid said on Wednesday. In an article published by The Sydney Morning Herald, as quoted by DPA, Wahid urged the government of his successor, Megawati Soekarnoputri, to welcome foreign involvement in the search for the perpetrators of the Bali bombing. The internationally renowned Muslim cleric said some of Jakarta's reluctance to root out extremists was a fear of antagonizing them. "This is unacceptable thinking," Wahid wrote. "The moderate Muslim majority is in fact eager to have the suspects arrested, because they cannot do so themselves." If they can't do it, and the gummint won't do it, they're in sad shape. I think they're in sad shape... The former chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, said Indonesians must accept that the aftermath of the Bali bombing had shown their government's security apparatus to be woefully inadequate and that foreign intelligence experts should be engaged to help. "We cannot, and should not, deny access to these foreign security agencies because they are the consequence, not the cause, of our security problems," he wrote. It'll last until the Indons can convince them to butt out, and not a minute longer. On the other hand... The chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in the country, Prof. Syafi'i Ma'arif, in Surabaya, East Java, warned the government on Tuesday against arresting other Muslim leaders after the arrest of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. "Please, do not try to or else we will shout from the rooftops in protest. After all, I believe that Ba'asyir is just a scapegoat in response to pressure from a dictating country, the U.S.," he said as quoted by Antara. Nothing like waiting for the evidence to be in, is there? Guilty conscience here? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |