JAKARTA, 21 October 2003 — A leading Indonesian Islamic group yesterday blasted US President George W. Bush for perpetrating “state terrorism,” and said his planned meeting with moderate religious leaders during a visit to Indonesia will be a waste of time.
“President George W. Bush is an agent of state terrorism ... he has destroyed other peoples and nations,” Din Syamsuddin, secretary general of the Indonesia Ulema Council representing Islamic scholars and organizations, told reporters.
Calling Bush “part of the problem” in the world, Syamsuddin said “meeting and dialogue with President George W. Bush is not useful and not profitable.”
Bush has invited prominent Islamic leaders, but not Syamsuddin, to meet him during his visit of just over three hours to the resort island of Bali tomorrow.
Syamsuddin accused Bush of arrogantly “acting like a teacher” to Indonesia and of trying to divide Indonesian Muslims.
He said the Islamic leaders scheduled to meet Bush should urge him “to fully comprehend the aspirations of the Islamic community” and should tell him the truth.
Calling on the US to withdraw from “occupied” territories, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Syamsuddin urged Bush to “open his ears and heart” to the demands of Indonesian Muslims who see the president’s so-called war on terrorism as a pretext for destroying Islam. Syamsuddin is vice chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second largest Islamic social organization whose chairman, Ahmad Syafii Maarif, is one of the leaders invited to meet Bush.
Maarif told The Jakarta Post in comments reported yesterday that it was better to face Bush directly “rather than just throw a fist (at him) from behind a mountain.”
Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the country’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, popular Islamic televangelist Abdullah Gymnastiar and Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra have also been invited.
Expressing displeasure with Bush’s policies, Gymnastiar has said he will not attend the meeting, which is scheduled to last 30 minutes. Bush is also to hold talks with President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Indonesia has deployed four F-16 fighter jets, warships, a helicopter and explosive sniffing dogs to help guard the presidential delegation, the state Antara news agency reported.
