Indonesian cleric calls for boycott over Dutch anti-Islam film

The Associated Press ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 04/02/2008 5:39 PM  |  National

Indonesia's top Muslim organization called Wednesday for a boycott of Dutch products to protest a film by a Dutch lawmaker that links Islam to violence.

Earlier, severl protesters broke into the grounds of a Dutch consulate building in the west of the country and ripped down the flag during a demonstration against the film. Police made several arrests, an embassy spokeswoman said.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said the boycott call was not in the form of a fatwa, or formal ruling, but rather an informal appeal not to buy Dutch goods.

Indonesia is a former Dutch colony and maintains close business ties with the country.

"We are urging people to boycott Dutch products because of the film," the body's chairman, Ma'ruf Amien, told The Associated Press.

It is unclear to what extent the call will be heeded, if at all. Even the council's fatwas, which themselves have no legal weight, attract little attention and are ignored by most Indonesians.

The film by anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders intersperses scenes of recent terror attacks by Muslim extremists with verses from the Quran, Islam's holy book. It ends with an appeal for Muslims to rip out sections of the book it claims encourage violence.

Before the film's release, the Dutch government warned it could spark protests and product boycotts in Muslim nations like those that occurred following the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad two years ago.

Meanwhile, around 50 people took part in a demonstration at the Dutch consulate in the city of Medan, said Dutch Embassy spokeswoman Gonneke de Ridder. Some of the demonstrators broke into he grounds of the building, she said.

She said two people were inside at the time, but could not confirm a report on el-Shinta radio that protesters also threw stones at the building and set the flag alight.

Police, who were not informed in advance of the protest, arrived after several minutes to disperse the demonstrators, arresting a "few of them," De Ridder added.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but its government is secular and hard-line interpretations of the faith generally do not attract much support.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who relies on the support of several Islamic parties in parliament, has condemned the film and urged protesters to stay calm.

On Tuesday, the government threatened to block access to the video-sharing website YouTube unless it removed the video from its site. (****)

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Indonesia for Indonesians (not verified) — Tue, 07/15/2008 - 7:44pm

I agree with 'The Reader' who seems so proud about his voting behaviour. We don't need any foreigners to teach us what we should approve of or condemn. If 'The Reader' wants to vote for someone with a religion problem, that's his own business, and that of his own country. If we in Indonesia wish to express our displeasure about intolerant opinions concerning a religion, that's our business as long as there are no human victims. Also it's none of his business what we in Indonesia should consider priority or not. As far as corruption is concerned, we call that NVAT (no value added tax) here. It does not appear that the VAT in "The Reader"'s country is a problem receiving much attention. Regarding the socalled tax problem 'The Reader' wishes to mention, I suggest he reads some of his country's newspapers where tax evation problems regularly appear involving his own country men or companies registered in his country.

Tecumseh (not verified) — Fri, 07/04/2008 - 3:31pm

Holland a jewish-christian country? what a joke. Learn your history. Holland was by origin a country of animists, heathen. The romans invaded holland and brought christianity. Dutch were forced to be christians otherwise they were burned and accused of sourcery. So now islam is an important religion in holland, the third in size to be precise. The christians are not forced to be moslems. They are just asked to live peacefully together with the moslem Dutch. The christians have an inner problem in doing that, because they know they will be loosers. Demographic reality learns that Holland will be an islam country in say 40 to 50 years. The influx and birthrate of moslems is so much higher. The christians who say goodbye to the church are so many. The moslems just have to wait a bit, and then it is good-bye Mr. Wilders with his Romanian wife. Oh yes, and in Romania they try to degrade the Gypsies into second rate citizens. Hah, all in the family Mr. Wilders!!!!

Henry Pribadi (not verified) — Sun, 04/13/2008 - 7:07pm

People who advocate boycotting other's country product because of an opinion should grow up !!!! they should learn how to respect people's opinion ( be it good or bad ) and show their maturity and intellect. Unfortunately, intellect and maturity are lacking in Indonesian culture. It clearly shows from how people ( government and society in general ) handle stinging critism. They quick to condemn and react in stupid,violent and thuggish manner.

This thing could only add to "hall of shame" which Indonesia has been been overwhelmed with.

AW (not verified) — Tue, 04/08/2008 - 8:54pm

OH RIGHT by the way if you want to look at the video, ever tried typing it on google and looking it on other websites (eghm indonesian government)? right maybe theres sound clips too. right and look, no matter what you ban there are always other ways. its called the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T. the world wide WEB? connections? right if youre so paranoid about anti-islamic films coming from a country that colonized you for the past 4 decades, why not ban dutch goods, ban the internet, ban TV, ban iPods, ban computers, ban magazines, ban radio, BAN EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAS ANYTHING FROM A-Z ON IT! that'll help prevent your fear of anti-islam. and by the way, the dutch guy is a joke. of all people he should be making peace with islam. after all holy war is one thing we all want to prevent but never had the voice to speak out, right.

AW (not verified) — Tue, 04/08/2008 - 8:47pm

unfortunately this whole blocking thing is absurd. do they realize that many students get help through youtube and connect with worldwide friends through myspace? what is indonesia trying to do to itself? they are more separated by the day and i hate to say this but there are also anti-semitic videos, racist videos, etc. does america block youtube or myspace? israel? nope. why don't youtube run anti-religious filtering instead of blocking youtube nationwide?

A.riese (not verified) — Thu, 04/03/2008 - 4:23am

My dear readers,
If you want to protest against a short internet video ,that's everybody's right in a democracy.
B U T ???
Have you seen the clip....???
As usually...i dont think so.
Its just ONE free opinion !--- Its turns against VIOLENT Muslims, who abuse Koran - Muhammad's words/principle of Islam -- not generally against Islam.
Its turns about peoples ,who are ready to kill the next neighbour,
because unable to discuss different opinions.
Peoples who are ready to kill woman/kids/men...from BEHIND !!!
Well..your free to express YOUR opinion.
But the same right have peoples in other countries and cultures !
The interesting part is : they use their intelect...and your guys use violence...
Just think about yourself -- Islam stands for 19 % of worlds religion.
The violent Muslims less than o,oo1 % of mankind !!!
Whoever thinks that minority really could rule the world, is lost in mind and time.
That 10 years in public attention (to terrorists) DON'T reflect
the real world.
People like peace not war.
It's always the same message : Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Christianity, Islam etc.

The Reader (not verified) — Thu, 04/03/2008 - 12:51am

What a joke. Being a Dutch citizen, I voted Geert Wilders during the last elections in 2007.

It is just a clear statement we do not need any more Islam in Belanda. Enough is Enough. Stop building mosques immediately! Belanda is originally a Jewish-Christian country, not an Islamic country like Indonesia. Let they drop their suicide-bombs elsewhere, but not in my backyard. There's plenty of space in Arabian desserts for that.

Yes, Indonesia can ban YouTube, and yes, let they ban porn on the internet. They can boycot Dutch products. Now it is's time to also ban local corruption and tax scandals. I think Indonesia has it's own domestic problems with their politicians, but they just ignore it....or did I say something wrong now? Indonesia, mind your own problems first and fix those, before you move on to whine about a European-style movie.

Anta (not verified) — Wed, 04/02/2008 - 10:36pm

I don't agree to stop buying Netherlands's Products. I think it will be better if we make a good image about Muslim rather than stop the economic activities.

Andersen — Wed, 04/02/2008 - 9:10pm

I understand many Indonesians feel angry at such a film but the idea of boycotting a whole country over this is crazy in my opinion. Would it then also be OK if an Indonesian says anything bad about Christianity or western cultures that the west should boycot all Indonesian products. Of course not, people are allowed to express their opinion no matter how stupid they might be. A nation is not responsible for all citizens' statements/doings.

I hope soon it will be possible to post comments in The Jakarta Post without having to wait for them to be accepted. I do not understand what it is you are afraid of? Maybe someone writes something stupid but then what is the problem, The Jakarta Post should not be responsible of all people comments on its website.

Lars Andersen
Copenhagen

Spitfire — Mon, 08/18/2008 - 7:22pm

I downloaded and watched "Fitna" ages ago as my curiosity was aroused by all the fuss.

I found it to be an utterly tasteless and highly amateurish 19 minutes or so of absolute rubbish. That anybody in their right mind would give it any credence whatsoever, let alone government officials in Indonesia "reacting" to the extent that they have, is a ridiculous waste of time and resources. It also makes Indonesia look a bit silly in the eyes of the rest of the non-Moslem world.

I also think that many ordinary Indonesians who are critical of it probably haven't even seen it. I can only say to those who haven't seen it, you're amongst the lucky ones.

Giving so much attention to this piece of garbage only arouses more "interest" in it. Well, that's what happened to me.

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