Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Following US President Barack Obama’s arrival in the Indonesian capital a few hours ago, many Christians and Muslims were quick to express their views, hopes and criticism about the one-day visit. Indeed, for many Indonesians, their country is Obama’s “second homeland” since he spent four years as a child in the Asian country. In school, his classmates called him “Barry”.
Mgr Johannes Pujasumarta PR, bishop of Bandung, spoke to AsiaNews about Obama’s visit. He said that he hoped it would boost interfaith dialogue and create greater harmony between Christians and Muslims.
Speaking as the secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia, Bishop Pujasumarta said that the world’s most populous Islamic nation has a number of challenges to face, like intolerance, corruption and poverty.
“Christians are less than 10 per cent in a population of some 250 million,” he added. “We too want to meet the challenges and promote pluralism, dialogue, respect, freedom, democracy and human dignity.”
Jusuf Wanadi, a Catholic and a senior scholar at Jakarta’s Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), recently wrote that Obama’s visit is important because it shows that the West, especially the United States, is trying to counter their declining influence at a time when China’s star is rising.
The visit is sign that Washington needs partners to settle regional and global issues, and Indonesia is one such partner, in particular since next year, it will take over ASEAN’s rotating presidency.
For their part, Muslims are waiting to hear Obama’s speech tomorrow at the Istiqlal Mosque. For many analysts, it should follow along the lines of the president’s speech in Cairo about a “new beginning” in the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world (see “Barack Obama for a “new beginning” with Islam,” in AsiaNews, 4 June 2009).
For Prof Din Syamsuddin, head of Muhammadiya, a moderate Muslim organisation, Obama’s visit ought to be seen as the “next step” in implementing the promises he made in Cairo.
However, Indonesia’s extremist Muslim groups are opposed to his visit; for them, the United States is an enemy of Islam.
Slamet Effendy Jusuf, head of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest moderate Muslim organisation, is not too concerned about extremist reactions. Nevertheless, he said that Indonesian President Yudhoyono “should tell his American counterpart that bilateral cooperation should be based on mutual respect and benefits”.
Abdillah Toha, a Muslim scholar and publisher, is critical of Obama for not living up to his pledges in Cairo. In his view, many Muslims feel “betrayed” after his silence over the Israeli attack on a humanitarian Turkish Flotilla trying to reach Gaza. This, he believes, marks the failure of the United States to pressure on Tel Aviv on Middle East issues. It “further erases hope among Muslims over Obama’s seriousness to carry out his promise in Cairo,” he said.
Similarly, Ahmad Ghozali, an ordinary citizen from Majalengka in West Java Province, wrote in online forum, “Mr. President, please convince us that you are really serious about serving the world as a peace-maker as well as peace-lover. Throw away your hypocrisy shown by your predecessor. Get rid of the double standards over Palestinian issues”.
