The US Embassy here said US President Barack Obama will deliver a speech in Jakarta highlighting the “democracy and progress that has been made since Obama’s speech in Cairo”, on the second day of his visit in Indonesia on March 24.
Obama delivered a speech to Muslim communities worldwide in Cairo last year, in which he appealed to Arab countries for support in US peacemaking efforts in the Middle East conflict.
“This speech, of course, will be an opportunity for [Obama] to discuss the comprehensive partnership that we’re developing with Indonesia and with the Indonesian people,” says the release.
“And he’ll also be able to discuss the efforts that the United States cooperates with Indonesia as it relates to democracy and as it relates to Indonesia’s position as a country with the world’s largest Muslim-majority population, as well as a country with a strong history of pluralism.”
Experts have said Obama should appeal to Islamic communities for support in counterterrorism initiatives during the speech, as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to tension between the US and the world’s Muslims.
Sunny Tanuwidjaja, a researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said Obama’s speech in Jakarta should highlight the rationale behind the US’s two wars, that they did not target Muslims but terrorist groups acting in the name of Islam.
Sunny added that Obama had to make it clear that the US still supported a two-state solution to the Palestine-Israeli conflict and a fair outcome for Palestinian refugees.
“People here want Obama to fulfil the promise in his Cairo speech that the US will listen to what Indonesia has to say on US-led counterterror wars and that Indonesia can partner with the US in US-brokered peace negotiations,” said Achmad Jainuri, rector of the Muhammadiyah University in East Java.
At Cairo University Obama had said: “I have come here to seek a new beginning between the US and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles — principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”
Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra, however, said Obama lost momentum with some Muslim communities in Indonesia because he chose Cairo rather than Jakarta to deliver his first speech to the Muslim world.
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