Indonesia president urges Muslims to fight terrorism

JAKARTA, June 20 (Reuters) Muslims should help solve global problems including terrorism and reach out to the rest of the globe if they want to be understood, Indonesia's president said today.

At a conference gathering Muslim scholars from around the globe, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invoked the glory days of Islam in the first millennium, when Muslims were at the forefront of scientific and cultural advancement, and told participants to put forward moderate views.

''The spectre of terrorism still threatens many of our communities. There is still a lengthy list of conflicts within the Muslim community and even between Muslim communities and non-Muslims,'' said Yudhoyono, who has dealt with several deadly terror attacks perpetrated by Islamic militants in recent years.

''The ummah of today must help find answers to global problems.

We must be problem solvers not problem creators,'' he said, referring to Islamic society.

''The Muslim world must be firm and united in the global fight against terrorism. The best way for the ummah to deal with the globalised world is by becoming an active part of it,'' he said.

Once seen as weak in combating terror, Indonesia has prosecuted hundreds of militants linked to terrorism, including cleric Abu Bakar Bashir whose release last week sparked protests from Australia and the United States.

In that case, Jakarta argued Bashir had served his time as set by the courts for involvement in the conspiracy behind the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, blamed on the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network. Intelligence officials said Bashir led the group.

Yudhoyono also said in his speech that the Islamic world should work hard to improve the ''appalling'' state of education in many Muslim countries.

ISLAMOPHOBIA ''Our love for Islam should be coupled with a love for learning and knowledge. Muslims can achieve social and economic progress if they embrace science, technology and modernity ... if they liberate themselves from isolationism,'' the president said.

The US-trained former general also said Muslims have been facing insults and ignorant behaviour from other groups but the response should be the will to understand each other.

''We also can do more to fight the wave of Islamophobia that seemingly is on the rise. It is as important to ensure that we tell our non-Muslim fellows what we want them to understand as it is to ensure we listen to what they want us to understand.'' ''We reach out as we take out,'' Yudhoyono said, adding there was a need to empower moderate Muslims in the process.

The conference was organised by Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim group, which promotes moderation.

The group's chief Hasyim Muzadi defended that approach.

''The moderates are not those who have no opinion. The moderates are those with strong views based on conviction of what is right and just. The moderates are those who strike the balance between faith and tolerance,'' he said in a speech that preceded the president's.

More than 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million population are Muslims and most are generally moderate in their views. However, the country has a radical fringe that is loud and growing in visibility, attracting ample coverage from the media.

Aside from the Bali bombings, Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, has in recent years seen several other high-profile attacks, including on a luxury Western hotel and the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Reuters CH GC1312