Indonesian leader condemns France attacks, Macron's comments

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday strongly condemned terrorist attacks in Paris and Nice and comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that were deemed offensive toward Islam and global Muslim community.Widodo, leer of world’s most populous Muslim nation, told a televised news conference from presidential palace in capital, Jakarta, that his government strongly condemns recent vigilantism in France against a teacher who was beheed near Paris and a knife attack at a church in Nice that killed three people.

Flanked by religious leers and Cabinet ministers, Widodo also condemned comments me by Macron at an Oct. 21 national memorial for teacher as an insult to Islam. Macron h said that teacher, Samuel Paty, "was victim of a conspiracy of stupidity, hate, lies, hate of or hate of what we profoundly are.” comments could divide unity of world’s religious communities at a time when world needs unity to curb COVID-19 pandemic,” Widodo said.

He said that freedom of expression that tarnishes hor, sanctity, and sacredness of religious values and symbols could t be justified and must be stopped.“Linking religion with terrorist acts is a big mistake,” Widodo said. “Terrorism is terrorism, terrorists are terrorists, terrorism has thing to do with any religion.”

Widodo’s comments come after France was shaken by two recent attacks. In a Paris suburb on Oct. 16, Paty, who showed caricatures of Prophet Muhamm to pupils in a class discussion on free speech, was beheed. 18-year-old Chechen refugee who carried out attack was later shot de by police.

In Mediterranean city of Nice on Thursday, a young Tunisian man armed with a knife and carrying a copy of Quran attacked worshippers in a church and killed three.Paty has been heralded as a symbol of France’s staunch secular ideals and its rejection of religious intrusion in public spheres. Macron and members of his government have vowed to continue supporting such caricatures as protected under freedom of expression.

Muslim politicians, religious scholars and everyday people have condemned such depictions as a form of hate speech and view m as sacrilegious and insulting to Islam.In Indonesia, home to more than 270 million people, vast majority of m Muslims, Macron’s statement has sparked strong disdain from grass-roots Islamic organizations.In response to outr, French Embassy in Jakarta issued a statement on Tuesday.

“President Emmanuel Macron me it clear that re was intention at all to generalize, and clearly distinguished between majority of French Muslims and militant, separatist mirity that is hostile to values of French Republic,” embassy's statement said.

(Im Credit: AP) 

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