Australia's Islamic neighbour Indonesia has fiercely opposed the US-led attack on Iraq calling on the UN to hold an emergency session. President Megawati Sukarnoputri who made the call after a lengthy cabinet meeting in Jakarta, had earlier assured Australian Prime Minister John Howard that she understood a war in Iraq was not a war against Islam. But is the Indonesian leader's understanding shared by the nation's majority?

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Speakers: Dr Azyumardi Azra, President of the State Islamic University, Jakarta

Azra: "I think so, at least by the formal and informal leaders In fact I attended a meeting yesterday with the Co-Ordinating Minister of Social Welfare, Yusef Galah yesterday in in his office.

"He gathered a great number of leaders, religious leaders, social leaders, informal leaders and then we agreed that the war in Iraq is not a religious war."

Lam: All the same though, do you think the war in Iraq may undermine President Megawati and indeed moderate Islamic opinion in Indonesia by providing ammunition to the more extremist views?

Azra: "The war is unfortunate because of course this is a war against humanity, we have to underline this that it is unfortunate that the wars are launched by the US and also UK and also Australia who claim to be the staunchest supporters of democracy.

"It's ironic that the United States, the British and the Australians talk about democracy but at the same time they resort to violence, to wars, instead of finding peaceful means of resolving the conflicts.

"This is unfortunate for us, for the moderate that we lose our arguments to talk about democracy, to talk about human rights, to talk about peaceful resolution of conflicts and things like that."

Lam: So are Indonesians disappointed then that Australian troops are going to be fighting alongside the US forces?

Azra: "Very, very disappointed of course, we are very disappointed because Australia is our very close neighbour. The Prime Minister John Howard should refrain himself from being directly involved in the war. Most Indonesians, regardless of religion, regardless of ethnic background, regardless of their ideology now stand against the war."

Lam: Is there a danger that that opposition to the war in Iraq might be translated into possible attacks against western targets in Indonesia?

Azra: "Of course we do not expect that because we hope that they express their opposition to wars in a peaceful manner, because we also believe that any kind of violence is not going to resolve any problem.

"But we have to make clear to the world that we are against any kind of aggression to any independent and sovereign country like Iraq.

"But we have to also make it clear that if we're against the war this doesn't mean that we love Saddam Hussein. We don't love Saddam Hussein because we know that he's a dictator. He's a ruthless dictator but at the same time it is not justified to attack Iraq."

Lam: Do you think that the more extremist elements within Indonesia may exploit the situation and try and generate more violence within Indonesia?

Azra: "That we are afraid of, we expect of course the extremists do not take this opportunity to undermine, to destabilise the country. We expect of course these are very hard painful times for us, for the fighters of democracy in Indonesia, but of course again we regret this very terrible war."