Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has made an overture to the country's two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, asking them to join his administration's efforts to combat terrorism and extremism in Indonesia, which is home to the world's largest Muslim population of almost 210 million out of a total population of more than 240 million people.
Jokowi said earlier, during an event attended by a number of Muslim scholars and rectors of state-run Islamic universities from around the country, that religious and cultural approaches were better tools for eradicating terrorism, rather than the adoption of a security approach.
Jokowi, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by a cultural approach, but said Indonesia's moderate Muslim organizations, including NU and Muhammadiyah, could set an example in a country that has long struggled with radicalism and terrorism.
Jokowi, who also said that the security approach that has been applied all over the world had failed to solve the problem of terrorism, added on Wednesday that after his meetings with leaders from NU and Muhammadiyah the government "needs [to hear] views from Muslim clerics" on the best ways to deal with radicalism.
NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said the moderate Muslim organizations in the country, including NU, had drawn the line against radical groups, like the Islamic State (IS) movement.
"NU's stance is that we are against radicalism and extremism. [For NU] those are not the form of a fight [for Islam]. Let there be no more [IS and radicalism] supporters," Said Aqil said after the meeting with Jokowi.
Jokowi had also previously ordered Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno to take the necessary steps to prevent the IS movement from growing in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
Intelligence agencies had detected a growing IS presence in the mountainous district, which is already believed to be a terrorist hotbed.
Muhammadiyah deputy chairman Abdul Malik Fadjar said all Muslim organizations in the country should work together "to arrive at a unifying vision on what Islam really means". "The Religious Affairs Ministry also needs to have a greater role [in curbing radicalism]," Malik said.
Muhammadiyah cleric Najamuddin Ramly said that he could endorse Jokowi's soft approach on radicalism, saying that only religious and cultural approaches could address the core of the problem.
He also pointed out the important role that Muslim clerics could play in raising awareness about terrorism. He said that moderate clerics could speak in a language that radicals could understand.
In early December, some NU ulema agreed to engage in dialogues with radical groups to curb terrorism in the country, following a discussion with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry at an Islamic boarding school in Depok, West Java.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/27/muslim-organizations-told-fight-radicalism.html