T

he Indonesian government will restrain itself from resorting to direct violence in dealing with the Islamic State (IS) movement in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Thursday.

Marty made the statement following United States President Barack Obama'€™s announcement of a broad escalation of the campaign against the IS militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq.

Marty said that he had yet to study details about Obama'€™s plan but argued that, '€œA solution that only uses violence is not durable and potentially create new problems in the future.'€

On Wednesday night, or Thursday morning on Indonesian time, Obama laid out a long-term US strategy against the militant group that would include expanding airstrikes against its fighters in Iraq and launching strikes against them in Syria for the first time, the Associated Press reported. The strategy would also include bolstering the Iraqi military and moderate Syrian rebels to help them reclaim territory from the militants.

'€œThat is why Indonesia always talks also about how to address the roots of the problem, [and about] what is the source of the problem that creates intolerance among people of different religions...'€ Marty said on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former British prime minister Tony Blair at the Presidential Office.

'€œSo, it requires a broader approach than simply the use of violence or force.'€

Presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah, however, said the US plan was not discussed during the meeting.

Faizasyah said that the meeting dealt with how to deal with extremism in general, as well as the progress being made on interfaith cooperation.

'€œThey did not discuss per se about the policy pronouncement [of Obama], but very much about how, in the long term, the global community should deal with this sort of situation,'€ he said.

According to Faizasyah, Blair paid the visit in his capacity as the founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation '€” it was established in 2008 and is dedicated to encouraging interfaith dialogue.

Faizasyah said that the two were involved in a discussion that was particularly about regional politics and other issues including Syria, IS and Ukraine.

He added that during the meeting Blair played his role as the UN'€™s Special Envoy for the Middle East Quartet '€” which is involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and comprises the US, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

He said Blair could benefit from the meeting in his effort to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

'€œWe can conclude that Yudhoyono'€™s view as a leader of the largest Muslim majority country will of course be heard by other world leaders, particularly in terms of policies regarding the ties between the West and Muslim world,'€ Teuku said, rejecting the notion that Blair'€™s visit was to lobby Yudhoyono on the US plan on IS.