Leader of world’s most populous Muslim-majority country urges Islamic leaders to unite in tackling extremism
According to The Telegraph, the president of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesia, has called the actions of Islamic State militants “embarrassing” to the religion and urged Islamic leaders to unite in tackling extremism.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the scale of the slaughter wrought by the extremists in overrunning large swathes of Iraq and Syria and the level of violence being used was appalling.
“It is shocking. It is becoming out of control,” he said in an interview with The Australian, a day after IS released a video showing a masked militant beheading US reporter James Foley, provoking worldwide revulsion.
“We do not tolerate it, we forbid ISIS in Indonesia,” he added, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as IS was formerly known.
“Indonesia is not an Islamic state. We respect all religions.”
He urged international leaders to work together to combat radicalisation.
“This is a new wake-up call to international leaders all over the world, including Islamic leaders,” he said, adding that the actions of IS were not only “embarrassing” to Islam but “humiliating”, the newspaper reported.
“All leaders must review how to combat extremism. Changing paradigms on both sides are needed – how the West perceives Islam and how Islam perceives the West.”
Indonesia is home to the world’s biggest Muslim population of about 225 million and has long struggled with terrorism. But a successful clampdown in recent years has seen the end of major deadly attacks.
Jakarta has estimated that dozens of Indonesians have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight and Yudhoyono said he was concerned about their return, adding that he had tasked agencies to oppose the spread of extremist ideology in the sprawling nation.
“Our citizens here in Indonesia are picking up recruitment messages from ISIS containing extremist ideas,” said the president, whose decade in office comes to an end in October.
“The philosophy of ISIS stands against the fundamental values we embrace in Indonesia. Last Friday, in my state of the union address to the nation, I called on all Indonesians to reject ISIS and to stop the spread of its radical ideology.
“My government and security agencies have taken decisive steps to curtail the spread of ISIS in Indonesia, including by prohibiting Indonesians to join ISIS or to fight for ISIS, and also by blocking Internet sites that promote this idea.”
Tony Abbott repeats his statement of regret Wednesday evening, as Indonesia orders an end to bilateral co-operation.Labor continues to backs the government in ‘a team Australia moment’.
Australia’s asylum-seeker measures in Indonesia have been thrown into disarray with Jakarta pulling the plug on all military co-operation in retaliation for the Abbott government’s refusal to explain the phone tapping of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Dr Yudhoyono: “It is no longer the Cold War era.” Photo: Achmad Ibrahim era.
God willing, tonight I will send a letter to Tony Abbott demanding Australia’s official stance and explanation … and then we will see what we can do in the future
According to Karuni Rompies and AAPRelations between Canberra and Jakarta have descended to their lowest level since the East Timor crisis as the Indonesian President ordered his country’s troops to stop joint exercises with Australians in Darwin, and the navy to halt any joint patrols to combat people smuggling.
n the latest development, the Australian embassy in Indonesia is bracing for protests outside its offices on Thursday. It is understood that the government will take precautions to ensure the safety of staff at the embassy.
And in the US, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, visiting Washington for Ausmin talks, refused on Thursday to discuss intelligence matters. US Secretary of State John Kerry also said that the US did not talk about intelligence matters in public and it wasn’t going to start now.
But opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek accused the Coalition of making ”some injudicious” comments before the September 7 election on asylum seeker policy.
Ms Plibersek said the government could not allow the diplomatic row with Indonesia, over spying claims during Labor’s time in government, to fester, insisting the opposition was committed to helping the government restore the relationship.
But she would not say whether she thought Prime Minister Abbott should pick up the phone and talk to Mr Yudhoyono, a move suggested by Labor leader Bill Shorten.
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne said that he was confused by Labor’s position.
On the one hand, he said, the opposition was saying it supported everything the government was doing to repair the relationship. ”On the other hand, they’re still trying to play politics on foreign policy,” Mr Pyne said.
Indonesia’s President on Wednesday said: “How can we do all this if we are not sure that there is no tapping of our military, which is working for the interests of the two countries?”
The sudden deterioration in ties sent the Abbott government into crisis talks, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott requesting time to address the House of Representatives at short notice to emphasise his respect for the relationship and his desire to see it repaired.
”I want to express here in this chamber my deep and sincere regret about the embarrassment to the President and to Indonesia that’s been caused by recent media reporting,” he said for the second time that day.
“The President indicated that he would shortly be writing to me. I would like to reassure the House that I will be responding to the President’s letter swiftly, fully and courteously. As always, I am absolutely committed to building the closest possible relationship with Indonesia, because that is overwhelmingly in the interests of both our countries.”
In response, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described it as a shared problem.
”This is indeed a team Australia moment. This is something that has happened to both Indonesia and Australia. We need to walk this road together. Other nations have resolved these similar issues, we can too,” he said.
Only last month Indonesian defence minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro agreed to deploy his navy’s maritime patrol aircraft to monitor people-smuggling activity along southern coastal areas, and to beef up naval patrols.
An Indonesian navy spokesman confirmed on Wednesday night that these patrols had been suspended, but said the moves would not affect the police force, which provides most of Indonesia’s assistance to Australia on people smuggling.
Dr Yudhoyono said after a crisis meeting at the presidential palace with his foreign minister, co-ordinating minister for security and intelligence chief that the suspension of military co-operation would remain in place until he had obtained “a clear explanation [from Australia] and for Australia to take responsibility”.
“God willing, tonight I will send a letter to Tony Abbott demanding Australia’s official stance and explanation … and then we will see what we can do in the future,” he said.
The explanation should “not be given through the Australian domestic setting”, he added.
The President spoke warmly of the relationship with Australia, but said he had ordered the suspension or review of several areas of co-operation, particularly on information sharing and the exchange of intelligence.
“I have also asked my military to temporarily stop the joint army and navy exercises and also to temporarily stop any co-ordinated military operations, the joint patrols,” he said.
“As you know, the people-smuggling issue has troubled both Indonesia and Australia, so we have co-ordinated military operations or co-ordinated patrols in the ocean, but until this issue is all clear it will be stopped.”
Dr Yudhoyono also called for a binding code of conduct between Australia and Indonesia on co-operation on military, intelligence and people-smuggling issues.
He said the decision by Australia to tap his mobile phone and those of his wife and their inner circle was ”difficult to digest”.
”It is no longer the Cold War era. It was a common thing then to spy on countries of different blocs, but today it is not like that any more. Hostile countries can tap each other, but between Indonesia and Australia we are not of different blocs, let alone hostile each other … why tap a friend, not foe?”
Position expressed via Twitter
Indonesian president Yudhoyono again took to twitter overnight to summarise his position, telling his 4.023 million followers via @SBYudhoyono that he would take three steps “while waiting for an official statement from the Australian Government”.
The first was to wait for “an explanation and for Australia to take responsibility”.
The second was: “A number of agendas for cooperation will be re-examined: the exchange of information, intelligence and training between the Republic of Indonesia and Australia, and the issue of people smuggling”.
The third was to demand a “Necessary protocol, or code of ethics, and guiding principles relating to cooperation in various fields to sustain the relationship the two countries”.
At the same time, there has been an outpouring of anger towards Australia on Twitter. The hashtag #GanyangAustralia , which means “Crush Australia”, has become a popular rallying point for Indonesians to respond to the spy allegations and Australia’s response so far.
Mr Yudhoyono and several senior ministers were said to be targeted
Indonesia is recalling its ambassador to Australia over allegations that Canberra spied on phone calls of the Indonesian president.
According to BBC, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the first lady and Vice-President Boediono were reportedly amongst those targeted.
The allegations came from documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden which were published by broadcaster ABC and the Guardian newspaper.
Indonesia said the ambassador was being called to Jakarta for “consultations”.
It is the latest in a series of spying allegations that have strained relations between the two allies.
On 1 November Indonesia summoned Australia’s ambassador amid reports that Australia’s Jakarta embassy was used as part of a US-led spying network in Asia.
The latest leaked document showed that Australia spy agencies named Mr Yudhoyono, the first lady, Vice-President Boediono and other senior ministers as targets for monitoring, the reports said.
The presentation from Australian spy agency the Defence Signals Directorate (now known as the Australian Signals Directorate) showed that agencies attempted to listen to Mr Yudhoyono’s calls at least once, and tracked calls made to and from his mobile phone, in August 2009, theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation and the Guardian added.
The news organisations published slides from the presentation, which appeared to show a list of Indonesian “leadership targets” and the handset models used by each target, as well as a diagram of “voice events” of the Indonesian president in August 2009.
One slide entitled “Indonesian President voice intercept (August ’09)” appeared to show an attempt to listen to the content of a phone call to Mr Yudhoyono.
‘Research’
On Monday, Indonesian Finance Minister Marty Natalegawa said: “This is an unfriendly, unbecoming act between strategic partners.”
“This hasn’t been a good day in the relationship between Indonesia and Australia.”
Indonesia was reviewing all of its agreements related to information exchange with Australia, Mr Natalegawa added.
Djoko Suyanto, Indonesia’s Co-ordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs, told the BBC that Jakarta would summon the Australian ambassador for questioning.
However, Sofyan Djalil, the former minister for state-owned enterprises whose name was also on the list of targets, told AFP news agency: “Diplomatic relations always have their ups and downs. This has caused anger in the short-term, but in the long-term we are still neighbours and I think we will overcome this.”
Earlier on Monday, responding to questions in parliament, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: “The Australian government never comments on specific intelligence matters.”
He added: “I will never say or do anything that might damage the strong relationship and the close co-operation that we have with Indonesia, which is all in all, our most important relationship.”
Last week, commenting on the earlier claims, Mr Abbott had described the term spying as “kind of loaded language” and suggested that “researching” would be more appropriate.
Indonesia has publicly voiced anger over previous allegations of Australian spying.
Vice-President Boediono, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, said last week that the Indonesian public were “concerned” about the spying allegations.
“I think we must look forward to come to some arrangement which guarantees that intelligence information from each side is not used against the other,” he said.
Australia and Indonesia are key allies and trading partners.
Australia requires Indonesia’s co-operation on the asylum issue, as many asylum seekers travel via Indonesia to Australia by boat, but there are tensions on the issue.
Earlier this month, Indonesia declined an Australian request to receive a boat of asylum seekers whose vessel, bound for Australia’s Christmas Island, had got into trouble after it departed from Indonesia.
The reports are amongst the series of documents leaked by ex-US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia and is wanted in the US in connection with the unauthorized disclosures.
The 2013 Miss World pageant has been won by Miss Philippines, Megan Young, on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Miss France, Marine Lorphelin, came second in the contest. Miss Ghana, Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter, took third place.
Young was born in the United States and moved to the Philippines at the age of 10.
The new Miss World is a college student is an actress and presenter since she was 15.
Miss World’s 127 contestants competed in beach fashion, fitness, world fashion, talent and “Beauty with a Purpose” which was consists of charitable work.
Dance of the world
Magical scene, colorful costumes, traditional Indonesian songs, dances, show and talents of the contestants impressed viewers.
The competition was moved to Bali from the capital, Jakarta because of protests from hardliner Muslim groups, the pageant abandoned the swimsuit competition and replaced it with less-revealing beachwear and the security for Saturday’s event was very high in Bali. The event, broadcasted in 180 countries, was guarded by heavily armed police
The Miss World 2013 Final will be held in Bali in what has been described as a last moment decision by the organizers amid growing protests against the pageant in Indonesia.
Earlier, the finale had been scheduled to take place at the Sentul International Convention Center, located on the outskirts of Indonesian capital, Jakarta. According to the organizers, the preparation for the pageant’s final in Jakarta had been already done three months ago, and all the tickets were sold.
However, the official website of Miss World Organisation clearly states that the Miss World 2013 final will happen on 28 September in Bali. Bali also hosted the opening ceremony of the pageant.
According to International Business Times the pageant, currently in its 63rd edition, has drawn huge criticism from the hardliner Muslims in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country. The protesters have condemned the beauty contest saying, “Reject Miss World” and “Miss World Go To Hell.”
The decision to host the closing ceremony of Miss World 2013 in Bali, the only Hindu-dominated province in Indonesia, may have been taken because of the protests. However, when IBTimes UK contacted the Miss World Organisation office in London to know about the actual cause for the change in venue, there was no response.
Notwithstanding any assumptions, the Balinese authorities had hinted at the possibility of a change in venue of the Miss World finale during the opening ceremony of the pageant.
“We and other security forces should be prepared. We have to keep the face of Indonesia in the eyes of the world,” former police chief of Bali said.
Miss World contestants confined to Bali
The Miss World 2013 pageant has been confined to Bali ever since it began early September with the arrival of contestants on the island.
Initially, only the first round of activities of the pageant had been planned to happen in Bali in the first week from the arrival of contestants. However, their stay in Bali gradually got extended with all the activities happening there.
While the Miss World 2013 contestants visited temples and ancient places in Bali, they were also supposed to visit iconic locations in Jakarta over the month-long pageant, according to organizers.
Melody: A Turkish performer plays for a crowd in Jakarta on Thursday. JP/P.J. Leo
Music is a universal language. People can enjoy melodies no matter where they come from.
This fact inspired Turkish Ambassador Zekeriya Akcam to invite two Turkish groups to perform in Jakarta.
The groups were Allegra and Gul Isigi. Allegra represents modern Turkish music, Gul Isigi the traditional.
“These musicians are the best of the best in my country. We will be entertained by high quality Turkish music in Jakarta,” the ambassador told The Jakarta Post at the concert at Usmar Ismail Hall in Kuningan, Jakarta, on Thursday night.
The performance began with Allegra singing Indonesia’s national anthem, “Indonesia Raya”, and Turkey’s national anthem, “Independence Hymn”. The music featured piano, violin, flute and violoncello.
The beautiful voice of Allegra’s soloist Mehlika Karadeniz mixed with the perfect sound of the musical instruments to create harmonics enjoyed by the audience of comprising ambassadors, businessmen, foreigners and Indonesian artists.
Gul Isigi took the stage after Allegra, performing traditional Turkish music with a zither, frame drum, reed flute and oud (a pear-shape stringed instrument).
They played 15 maqams (a style of singing with music), representing Makam Segah, Ussak, Muhayyer Kurdi and Nihavend.
There have actually been 500 maqams composed in Turkey. Today as many as 50 maqams are still used, creating the forms and tastes of Turkish music.
Turkish classical music is complicated for music loving beginners. The music uses both micro and macro tones and each maqam has its own style and scale.
Gul Isigi performed the Ilahi, which is a hymn to show love for Allah and the Prophet Muhammad. The Ilahi had been arranged in several maqams. There is no difference between Ilahi, songs and musical instruments in terms of maqam. The difference is only the style and staging.
During the performance, Gul Isigi presented the history of Turkish music from the 18th century to today.
The next performance was a solo folk music performance with a baglama. The Baglama is a stringed musical instrument. Like an oud, a baglama has a deep round back but a much longer neck.
Allegra then performed 12 folk songs from Turkey. Just like Indonesia, Turkey has many folk songs that are still popular today.
One of the folk songs was “Magusa Port” from the Cyprus area. The song tells of a man named Arap Ali who worked at the Limasal Port. In 1943, Arap Ali went to the Magusa Port to load his goods. He visited a bar there and was involved in a fight with a British soldier. He was killed and the song was composed.
The performances of these two groups of musicians created different points of view in terms of Turkish music.
“The zither makes the Turkish music different and I like the sound of that instrument, it is so unique,” Diah, an audience member, said.
“The instruments and framed drum create a different kind of music. It seems like Arabic music but it is not,” another audience member said. “The performance is beautiful and makes me so relaxed.”
Allegra was founded as the Allegra String Quartet in 2005. The group is comprised of seven women, and was established to perform the musical heritage of Turkey and to consider the universality of music.
Gul Isigi perform Turkish classical and Sufi compositions of the finest quality. The members of the group are from the academic world, and teach and research the history of Turkish music.
Turkish Ambassador Zekeriya Akcam said this was the first performance of Turkish musicians in Indonesia. He plans to invite more musicians to perform in the country in order to introduce Turkey to Indonesia.
“We plan to hold a concert in May or June. I would like to discover what kind of music they like and then we can perform maybe in Surabaya, Jakarta or Bandung,” he said.
“The performance today is a test case to see whether people in Indonesia like Turkish music,” the ambassador added.
In the future, it will be possible to invite Indonesian musicians to Turkey to perform.
“Actually we share many similarities. Turkey also has a kind of music similar to dangdut in Indonesia,” Akcam said with a big smile.
He added that the money earned from the recent show will be donated to the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children Foundation (YPAC).
Purti Muki, the chairwoman of YPAC, confirmed the donation. She said she was pleased with the generosity of the Turkish Embassy, as YPAC needed funds.
via Turkey shares its music with Indonesia | The Jakarta Post.
