Terrorism is the enemy of all faiths, Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told religious leaders from across Asia, Australia and the Pacific at a conference on how to curb rising religious extremism.
"There is one exceedingly heinous form of violence that we must grapple with, and that is the scourge of terrorism," the newly-elected Yudhoyono said on Monday. "To my mind, terrorism today must be regarded as the enemy of all religions."
The largely Australian-funded summit was being held in Yogyakarta in central Java – the crucible of the Jemaah Islamiah terror network blamed for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings as well as attacks at the JW Marriott hotel attack and Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
The meeting took place after a recent survey claimed that as many as 16 per cent of Indonesia's 220 million population, supported terror attacks if launched in the defence of Islam.
Yudhoyono said he was delighted Australia and Indonesia had organised the meeting to help religious moderates beat militants in the battle for hearts and minds.
Din Syamsuddin, the vice-president of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group – the 30 million-member Muhammadiyah – said it was crucial for religious moderates to work together. But he said he "deplored" the barring of Australia's most senior Muslim leader, Mufti of Australia Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, from the summit because the Australian government considered his views too extreme.
The Mufti – Imam at the Lakemba mosque in Sydney – angered the government earlier this year when he reportedly said in a speech in Lebanon that the September 11, 2001 terror attack on the United States was "God's work against oppressors".
Representatives from across South-East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, East Timor and Papua New Guinea took part. But a delegation from Malaysia, which has a long history of thorny relations with Canberra, failed to attend, catching organisers by surprise.
The summit covered all the world's major religions – Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it was timely given a string of deadly terror attacks in Indonesia, and Muslim separatist unrest in southern Thailand and the Philippines.
"A terrible perversion of religion with a violent face threatens moderate believers and moderate states in both the East and the West," Mr Downer said.
"Ultimately it is people of moderation who are going to be able effectively to curb the terrorists and others who commit violent acts in the name of religion." He said Dr Yudhoyono's presence at the summit sent a powerful signal that the former general was determined to stamp out Islamic militancy in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
During a brief private meeting, Dr Yudhoyono told Mr Downer he would like the summit to become a yearly fixture. Mr Downer's Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda said Asia was a religious microcosm. "We came here to pool our spirituality," he said. He said he would investigate why the Malaysians failed to show, as Indonesia had been "positive they would attend".
Dr Wirayuda and Mr Downer joined delegates on an early-morning tour of Indonesia's most important Hindu site, the sprawling ninth-century Prambanan temple.
Mr Downer said the summit was unlikely to produce a concrete statement condemning sectarian violence, which he admitted would likely be "platitudinous to the point of being banal".
"I would have thought what will come out of it is the beginning of a process," he said. "This whole notion of establishing some sort of a permanent dialogue between the great faiths of the region has the potential to be extremely powerful."
Din Syamsuddin, the vice president of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group, the 30-million-strong Muhammadiyah, said it was crucial for religious moderates to work together.