Pontianak, West Kalimantan – The number of Chinese Muslims in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta, Surabaya and Semarang, has experienced rapid growth, a Chinese Muslim leader said.

"The number of Chinese Muslims in Jakarta alone has reached hundreds of thousands," Budijono, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chinese Muslims Association (PITI), said here on Wednesday.

Budijono, whose Muslim name is Nurul Fajar, made the remarks in a dialog on the development of the multicultural horizons of the Muslim leadership. He said of the 238 million people in Indonesia, 15 percent were Chinese Indonesians of whom five percent were Muslims.

Budijono said that Islam entered China 1,400 years ago when Said bin Abu Waqos built a mosque in Guangzhou, China. In Indonesia meanwhile, Islam arrived about 700 years ago.

"So, basically in China Islam developed in advance and was embraced by millions of people. If there is an attempt to separate Chinese Indonesians from indigenous Indonesians that is simply a political move aimed to create disunity," he said.