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US Representatives Question SBY over Ahmadiyah Attacks
Camelia Pasandaran | February 23, 2011

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Valkyrie
7:17pm Feb 23, 2011

US Congress representatives coming to Indonesia ro quiz the President on the Ahmadiyah fiasco? That part is for the media, but, I am not too sure about their precise purpose. What we're told does not hold water i'm afraid.

marko1
6:18pm Feb 23, 2011

Should SBY not have made an offer to hand over the HEAD of FPI to the USA so that he can be with his buddies in GITMO?

mauriceg
5:54pm Feb 23, 2011

I sincerely hope the US representatives were not fooled by SBY's statements of intentions. He is a past master of telling people what they want to hear, but unfortunately is unwilling or too spineless to actually follow through, so in essence he is telling porkies again; (for the uninitiated, this is rhyming slang, (a mainly London lingual idiom, I think), in this case for 'porkie pies: = lies).

Perhaps one reason the powers that be originally forwarded him as a Presidential candidate was that he looked and sounded quite convincing, and so he became the acceptable face of the totally unacceptable.

devine
5:20pm Feb 23, 2011

We do not see much "upholding the law" when it comes to these thugs. So nice diplomatic bla bla only. But I guess the guests are quite aware of that too...

gaddy
3:09pm Feb 23, 2011

Good to see the President says Indonesia are committed to upholding "the rules of law". If so why are there riots and mob disorders more or less each day?

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United States Congress representatives visiting Jakarta on Wednesday demanded an explanation from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the Ahmadiyah mob attack.

“The issue of Ahmadiyah was raised by my colleague [Jim] McDermott and we have a very healthy discussion about that,” said David Dreier, chairman of House Democracy Partnership, at a press conference. “Obviously, the rule of law is critical.”

He said Yudhoyono told him that the Indonesian government was continually committed to upholding the rule of law.

"Religious tolerance is something that he feels strongly about and we share that concern," Dreier said. "We deal with extremism in the United States on a regular basis."

Dreier noted a declined in religious tolerance in Indonesia. He said Yudhoyono told him that conflict existed between religions groups and that the issue needed to be addressed.

Teuku Faizasyah, the presidential spokesman for international affairs, said the Indonesian president explained the government's efforts to seek a win-win solution and outlined the 2008 ministerial agreement on Ahmadiyah.

"They understood and acknowledged that there was friction toward Ahmadiyah groups in other countries such as India and Pakistan," Teuku said.

"They appreciated that the government had taken steps, and the president confirmed that those resorting to violence would be dealt with through strict legal processes and without immunity."

In addition to discussing Ahmadiyah, the representatives and president talked about, among other topics, parliamentary development, women's rights, trade and environmental issues, Dreier said.

The representatives had visited Aceh earlier and were set to visit Surabaya tomorrow.

“We know that democracy and democratic representation is not just about what happens in the capital, but it is also about the relationship of the country to the government,” said David Price, the co-chairman of the partnership.