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AKARTA: Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Anis Matta has said that the global response to the extremist organization, the Islamic State (IS), is overstated, considering the size of the militant group compared to the military strength of most countries.

After meeting with Turkish Islamic party officials recently, Anis said the 30,000 members of IS, also known as ISIL, could not be considered a severe threat to many, more populated, countries.

'€œISIL'€™s strength is only at 30,000, while the number of countries that consider the group a threat is 40. In our country, we would consider that lebay [overblown],'€ Anis said on Sunday on the sidelines of a PKS event, as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that the recent coverage and global condemnation of IS did not represent the world'€™s concerns about a threat from Islam, but was more about the flow of power between the world'€™s nations.

'€œThe response can be seen as an attempt to revive the Cold War mentality. ISIL is being talked about fiercely in order to map out the strength of the world'€™s nations through their response toward it. It is not Islam that is being battled here,'€ said the former House of Representatives deputy speaker.

Since its emergence as a formidable militant group, IS has become a concern to many countries, including Indonesia. Indonesia'€™s government and religious leaders have condemned the group'€™s extremist ideology and have banned any activity relating to the group.

Several civilians from Java and Sumatra were arrested in August for being suspected sympathizers or supporters of IS.