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strong>Sept. 12, p4

The Indonesian government will refrain from direct military action in dealing with the Islamic State (IS) movement in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Thursday.

Marty made the statement following US 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 the details of Obama'€™s plan but argued that, '€œA solution that only uses violence is not durable and potentially creates new problems in the future.'€

Your comments:

Actually Marty, violence is the only solution to handle Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his black flag troops.

Calypta

IS is the creation of the west.  It is an example of the violence unleashed when people are trodden into the bloodied ground for too long by the money-changers occupying the temple of usury.  

Finally the thousands whose only hope is in death have arisen and are exacting their terrible toll. As planned and produced by the many-eyed mother-of-harlots.

Olmet

Who created this monster is another question altogether. The decision to invade Iraq after a terrorist strike carried out by Saudis is particularly suspicious.

Undoubtedly some bigger planners were behind it. Exactly what, I have no way of knowing. But I stick to my point that IS is based on violence and intimidation toward anyone not submitting to them. People on the ground in Iraq and Syria are suffering their particular brand of barbarism right now.

If nothing is done, it will get worse. Something needs to be done, and negotiation is a non-starter.

Deedee S

Indeed, violence is not a solution to handling IS, but the violent ideology is the root that has to be handled when dealing with IS.

Titoyo

Marty says: '€œA solution that only uses violence is not durable and potentially creates new problems in the future.'€  

Indonesia itself has experienced the consequences of resorting to violence in Aceh: only more misery and only reinforcing the political legitimacy of the movement that the Indonesian regime sought
to suppress.

If Indonesia is really against violence, it should bring its 45,000 troops currently posted in West Papua back to their barracks in Indonesia.

Thanks Marty for conveying this message to your superior general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Jan Karl

Marty is most likely correct in suggesting that military action will achieve little in this conflict. IS has won a major propaganda victory in having the US and Arab leadership go to war against it.  The problem is seeing IS as an entity whereas it is nothing more than a contagious ideology waiting for more victims to infect.  

It is of course interesting that Marty suggests RI wants to get to the root causes of this conflict. Well this problem has been going for some time so where has been this great RI leadership?  

This suggests RI has as much luck in getting to the root causes of the Middle Eastern conflict as it does in preventing youths from becoming jihadists.  RI is however not alone in tackling these issues.

Australia and Europe have major problems here as well.  One has the uncomfortable feeling that military action is a diversion from tackling home-grown terrorism.

Jagera

I'€™m curious. What should the world have done in 1938-1940? Tried to reason with Hitler and the Japanese? Or just sit back and wait until the whole world spoke German and Japanese?

Jbl Nor

Minister Marty, my friends and I agree about no violence. We are a civilized country. Nobody should play cowboys and Indians against others.

This is the Pancasila nation, not a nation supporting any war. Nobody should become puppets of the hidden ambitions of the US.

Greg Daru

So Marty, what would Indonesia like to tell those fellow Muslims (among others) being slaughtered, crucified, murdered and buried alive.  '€œHang on we are just having a chat about your problem now?'€ Pretty sad and pathetic response wouldn'€™t you say?

Rusty Nails