Indonesia Calls for Unity in Fight against Extremist

Indonesian Vice-President speaking at the opening of the International Summit of the Moderate Islamic Leaders in Jakarta, urged moderate Muslim countries to maintain peace and unity.

The International Summit of the Moderate Islamic Leaders (ISOMIL) is held in Jakarta this week. Terrorism and radicalism are the main issues discussed in the summit.

In his opening speech, Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged moderate Muslim countries to maintain peace and unity. “Islam should be blessing for the universe,” he said at Jakarta Convention Center, Jakarta, Monday (5/9/2016).

Jusuf Kalla on Monday (May 9) called for an Islamic world that is “moderate” and pressed for unity in diversity among countries in the region in the fight against radicalism.

He added that youth who do not have deep faith are susceptible to radicalism not for wealth or political fame, but rather as a “shortcut to heaven”.

That is why Islamic leaders need to do more to resolve issues of radicalism, especially with the world in constant fear of “radicalism in action”, which comes in the form of terrorism, wars and conflicts.

Mr Kalla was speaking at the opening of the International Summit of the Moderate Islamic Leaders (Isomil) in Jakarta, organised by the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country and the NU – with about 40 million members – is its largest Muslim organisation.

A key focus of the event is for these leaders to discuss and find new ways to promote a moderate form of Islam as an antidote to extremist ideologies.

“I appreciate the important ideas, but those ideas will be more useful if we practise them together among the countries here,” said Mr Kalla.

The international summit is initiated by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia. Chair of the summit organizing committee, Imam Aziz, mentioned that NU wants to boost moderate Islam as a counter to radicalism.

Aziz continued that conflicts in the Islamic world are the source of radicalism. “As long as these conflicts are not resolved, radicalism will continue to grow,” he continued.

Poverty is another issue discussed in the summit. “Poverty in the Islamic world is in contrast with welfare in the Western world,” he added.

The Rais Aam of NU, Ma’ruf Amin, believes the summit can find solution to tackle crisis in the Islamic world. “I hope we will have follow up from this discussion,” he said.

ISOMIL is held on May 8-11. Around 35 moderate Islamic clerics from 25 countries gather in the summit.

source:straitstimes