It needs to be said that both large families and illiteracy are linked to the cycle of poverty, not religion. And the fact that they can't afford to send their eight kids to school is redundant when there isn't actually the facilities or resources to educate them in the first place.

And to be fair to Indonesia, Jeanne, this country has had one of the best family planning programs in the developing world for a long time - much better than the mess India has on its hands and the draconian measures that China has imposed. Moreover, contraception is actually less controversial in Islam than it is in (secular) US politics...

Agoz..It is time Muslims took responsibility for their future and present and past, instead of blaming each and everything on others. 80% of the Muslim faithful are illiterate. The women are put in handicap situations. The children end up in religious madrasas and almost every Islamic country is run dictators or authoritarian regimes. The Sunni Muslims are in fight with the Shia Muslims and killing each other for centuries. The Saudi Wahhabi Muslims ill treat Indonesian maids as if they are worse than garbage. NOW, according to the Islamists, all this is the fault of western civilizations, the Christians, the Jews and so on. What are we talking here.?.TO kids or to grown up adults ?. Grow up man and wake up, open your eyes. Like they say. It is easy to wake up a sleeping man. But impossible to wake up someone who pretend to sleep. Thats right..all the problems faced the Muslim community is due to outsiders.

Dear agoz, you know what I believe is that if Jesus or Mohammed would walk the earth today (and if they would not be jailed straight away as heretics which might be easily the case) they would be absolutely shocked, embarrassed and appalled about what happened with the various interpretations of their respective teachings as we have them today. To the deepest disgusted over the fact that over the last millennium alone millions of people of this world, men, women, children, got killed, prosecuted, jailed, hurt in their respective name and the name of God – by others who cunningly and purposefully misinterpreted their important messages to all of us humans, black, white, brown and are still doing it today for power, money, influence, leverage over other people. I always understood the only interpretation of what they tried to communicate to us PURELY as guidelines for equal love, respect and peace for all, regardless of religion, nationality, social status, sex, race and age, written down at their time of course in regards of a world of 2000 years ago or so.

I also believe that if they would see what happens today in this world and if they would be able to, they would travel back in time to the beginning of their teachings and would invalidate them all, simply out of utter shame of what they started.

To come to an end – I cannot believe in a governing body which is based on a religion, simply because as history shows over and over and over again that this just causes pain and endless troubles for the majority of the citizens of this respective country on behalf of a very small minority.. I believe in liberal, (neutral) democracies as practiced in many countries as Norway, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland (regardless of the recent minaret ban which was NOT a mosque or religion ban!), France (Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité) to name a few, in which the elected government truly and honestly cares for all their citizens and tries to minimize any negative impact of majority decisions on existing minorities! They might not be the ultimate but the best existing option there is in the world we are living today.

Mr. Roland, i admit your "Hey, Indonesia is more than 50 years now without the burden of a colonial power - time enough to get the records straight, looking at the amazing natural resources this country possesses compared to Israel and Palestine" was obviously right. it was bad deal of my egoist government. but in my opinion this condition was made by western as John Foster dulles say in his book that hard colonialism have charged too much cost as Soviet urged third world (colonialized countries) to take fierce rebelion over her invaders (westerners), so they need to change the colonialism measures, by soft colonialism, especialy control the third world with IMF and IBRD (world bank), and CGI (paris club) while they were trapped by debt. Just see john perkins book "confession of the Economic Hitman" to understand how the western Capitalist had trapped third world to debt, especialy upon my Indonesia... Finaly we need new system to resolve our condition. there are no other proper option except syariah. Liberalist-capitalist and Socialist-comunist have failed to solve our condition...well, Hizbut-tahrir together with the other organizations have been working together for this, bring back Caliphate system to reality, with education and dakwah, and offcourse non- violence

agoz - first - it's actually an Israeli Civil Rights Group pointing out the desperate state of the Arabs in Jerusalem.

Second - are you an Arab to be in such a strong feeling for them? I believe it would be far more beneficial to better look first into the own country and the desperate state many children are living here before trying to change and deliberate the condition of another country, as bad it may be. I cannot believe that there is even a budget of $152 for each Indonesian elementary school child per year, apart of the garbage collection, water distribution, sewage maintenance etc.

Hey, Indonesia is more than 50 years now without the burden of a colonial power - time enough to get the records straight, looking at the amazing natural resources this country possesses compared to Israel and Palestine.