Jihadists the last thing Gaza needs: Minister
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
The Jakarta Post The government maintained Tuesday its stance of
refusing to send Indonesian troops to the Gaza Strip despite mounting
pressure from some Islamic groups to dispatch jihadists to the besieged
Middle Eastern spot. The Foreign Ministry said sending jihadists to Gaza
to help Hamas fight Israel would not improve the situation, adding there
were much more effective avenues Indonesia could take to help diffuse
the situation. A number of Islamic hardline groups, including the
Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), have said
they wish to send volunteers to Gaza under the banner of jihad and have
called on the government to support them. “Is conducting a jihad effective? We must ask Gaza if
that’s what they need, and most probably they (don’t). There are other
more effective ways to help ... So far, sending jihadists isn’t an
option,” Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said. AFP reported Tuesday that the 11-day-old Israeli
offensive in the Gaza Strip had claimed the lives of at least 635
Palestinians and wounded 2,900 more. The toll shot up Tuesday when Israeli fire hit three
schools, killing at least 45 people. Speaking in his annual statement to the press, Hassan
said what Gaza needed most was medicine and medical assistance. “We are looking at the possibility of sending medical
workers to field hospitals in the Egypt area of Sinai, which borders
with Gaza. We’re awaiting clearance from Egypt, and the President has
instructed the health minister to collect volunteers,” Hassan said. Despite agreeing that the Israeli attacks on the Gaza
Strip had nothing to do with religion, Islamic groups in Jakarta have
hyped up the conflict between the two religious groups, paving the way
for the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and other Islamic
groups to seize the momentum ahead of the April elections. Observers on Tuesday criticized nationalist parties
for not shouting down calls by Islam groups to send volunteers to the
war, which was defined by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday
as a clash over the sovereignty of territory between Palestine and
Israel, and not a religious matter. “The nationalist groups should be more active in
voicing their stance as Indonesia’s voice will be much more strong if
the (the world) considers it to represent a pluralist Indonesia rather
than only Islam,” University of Indonesia international relations expert
Hariyadi Wirawan said. He said a pluralist Indonesia would attract more
sympathy from major non-Muslim countries, such as members of the
European Union (EU), as well as powerful human rights groups world wide
that see the attacks as a territory dispute and a human rights tragedy
rather than an attack against Islam. PKS, the FPI and HTI seized the spotlight immediately
after Israeli began the attacks when the groups gathered thousands of
supporters in Jakarta and other big cities in the country to rally
against Israel and the US.
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