JAKARTA, 17 September 2006 — About 1,000 Indonesian Muslims waving flags and shouting “God is Great” marched to the Palestinian Embassy in Jakarta yesterday to demonstrate their support for the Palestinian people and criticize the Pope.
The demonstrators, who arrived at the embassy after a 45 km march from their Islamic boarding school in West Java, demanded the Al-Aqsa Mosque be freed from Israeli control.
“As we know up until now the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the Muslims’ right, is still under the colonial rule of Islam’s enemies,” said protest leader Heri Budianto.
They also criticized comments made earlier this week by Pope Benedict on Islam and jihad, which have been roundly condemned by Muslims as an attack on their religion.
“Only Muslims can understand what is jihad. It is impossible that jihad can be linked with violence, we Muslims have no violent character,” said Budianto.
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation, with some 85 percent of its 220 million people following the faith. In a speech on Tuesday during a visit to Germany, the pope appeared to endorse a Christian view, contested by most Muslims, that the early Muslims spread their religion by violence.
Yesterday, the pope issued a statement saying he was sorry Muslims found his speech offensive and expressing his respect for their faith and hope that they would understand the “true sense” of his words.
Quakes Rock Indonesia’s West and East
A strong earthquake rocked parts of eastern Indonesia, while a moderate quake rumbled deep undersea off the country’s westernmost island yesterday, the local meteorological agency said. Tsunami alerts were not issued and there were no immediate reports of damage from either quake, it said.
A strong 6.2 magnitude quake, centered inland, jolted Seram island, 190 km northeast of Ambon, the provincial capital of the Mollucas Islands, yesterday afternoon, said Jajat Jatmika, an official at the agency.
The epicenter of the quake was on Seram Island, 177 km northeast of Ambon city in the Moluccas chain of islands, said Jajat Jatmika from the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency.
