Finally awake: Indonesian president warns of rising radicalism

"There appear to be signs of radicalization in some parts of our country. Unless action is taken, the security of this country, the security of the people, is at risk." 

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: M&C | Asia-Pecific News
By  M&C | April 19, 2011

Jakarta - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned Tuesday that rising religious radicalism could threaten the country's stability.

His remarks came after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque inside a police compound in the West Java city of Cirebon on Friday, injuring 30 people.

'There appear to be signs of radicalization in some parts of our country,' Yudhoyono said in a televised address to ministers, the police and military top officials at a meeting in Bogor, just south of Jakarta.


'Unless action is taken, the security of this country, the security of the people, is at risk,' he added.

In addition to bomb attacks, there have been recent cases of violence against religious minorities in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country.

In February, Muslim hard-liners attacked a house occupied by members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, killing three people.

In another case, residents at Ciketing in the eastern outskirts of Jakarta used force to prevent a Christian congregation from building a church, citing a land dispute.

The president warned that lack of security could force people to take the law into their own hands.

'Because people don't feel secure, they will resort to their own ways,' he said. 'This must not be allowed to happen.'

Yudhoyono, a former army general, insisted that the government would not resort to authoritarianism in dealing with security problems like former dictator Suharto did before he was ousted in a popular revolt in 1998.

Police on Monday confirmed that the suicide bomber in Cirebon was a local resident named Muhammad Syarif, but said they had not established a motive or if he was part of a militant network.

Friday's attack came almost two years after militants bombed the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, killing nine people and injuring more than 50.

Indonesia has been hit by a series of attacks blamed on al-Qaeda-inspired militants since 2000, notably the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

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