Jakarta – House of Representatives deputy speaker Fadli Zon has joined the condemnation of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's recent statement to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
"I think Donald Trump's statement is foolish. It violates human rights," said Fadli, who sparked controversy after attending a Trump campaign event in New York on Sept. 3, as reported by kompas.com on Thursday.
"The United States upholds diversity, it is one of the world's democratic countries. The US also has a large number of Muslim inhabitants whom largely contribute to the state. If [Trump] made such a discriminative statement, it represents a huge contradiction," said Fadli.
Fadli admitted that he did not regret meeting Trump as his meeting had been to discuss investment and had nothing to do with Trump's discrimination toward Muslims.
"Of course, I don't regret [the meeting]. It had nothing to do with [Trump's recent statement]. If he chooses to invest in Indonesia, that's a good thing," added Fadli.
Donald Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" on Monday, a dramatic escalation of his rhetoric on Islam and an idea widely condemned by his rival Republican presidential candidates and others in the Republican Party.
According to a report by The Associated Press, the Republican front-runner's proposed ban would apply to both immigrants and visitors alike, a sweeping prohibition affecting all adherents of a religion practiced by more than a billion people worldwide. Such a ban should stand "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on", continued Trump, in a statement release.
"Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," said Trump. (kes)