The Washington Post, Tuesday, October 21, 2003
U.S. Policy Censured in Indonesia Muslim Leaders To Caution
Bush
By Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post Foreign Service
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 20 -- Two national religious leaders who will meet with
President Bush during his three-hour stop in Indonesia on Wednesday said they plan
to tell him that they fear U.S. foreign policy is alienating the people of the world's most
populous Muslim country and that the United States needs to take a more balanced
approach to terrorism.
"Because the problem of terrorism is very complex, President Bush should be more
careful in pointing his fingers at Muslim terrorists," said Azyumardi Azra, rector of
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, one of the country's oldest and
most prestigious state-supported Islamic universities. In an interview Monday, Azra
said he appreciated the U.S. efforts to fight terrorist acts, but at the same time, root
causes such as corruption and a lack of law enforcement need to be addressed.
Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of the 30 million-member Muhammadiyah civic
organization, said that U.S. policy in the Middle East "has a very, very destructive,
negative impact on other nations, particularly the Palestinians." He added, "If this
continues, it will be very hard for us to see a peaceful world in the future."
Maarif, Azra and other religious leaders will confer with Bush in Bali, where he will
meet President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The views of civic leaders such as Azra and
Maarif are influential in ensuring stability among Indonesia's 180 million, mostly
moderate Muslims.
Bush will announce a $150 million, five-year grant to help improve basic education in
Indonesia's ailing schools. The money will be available for both secular and religious
schools, including Islamic boarding schools, U.S. officials said.
Abdullah Gymnastiar, a religious boarding-school director and popular Islamic
television evangelist, declined to meet Bush because of what he described as
"sadness for the innocent women and children killed in Afghanistan, Palestine and
other countries because of George Bush's insensitive policies."
According to an opinion poll by the Pew Global Attitudes Project released in June,
only 15 percent of Indonesians hold a favorable opinion of the United States,
compared with 75 percent three years ago.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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