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resident Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has urged Muslim leaders to help the government in cracking down on radical sermons by preaching a peaceful interpretation of Islam, a move aimed at preventing the spread of fundamentalism and terrorism in the country.

President Jokowi made the call on Friday morning when he met with Said Aqil Siradj, the chairman of the country'€™s largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and representatives from the Indonesian Islamic Preaching Institution (LDII).

Jokowi held two separate meetings with the leaders of the organizations at the State Palace to discuss efforts to root out religious extremism in the country, which for years has battled against terrorism.

'€œI think we have an emergency and we must improve our efforts [to promote a peaceful interpretation] of Islam,'€ Said Aqil told reporters on Friday after the meeting.

Jokowi has repeatedly underlined that a soft approach is essential to address the root causes of radicalism and that adopting a hard approach could be counterproductive in the country '€” which is home to various Muslim groups.

Following the recent deadly terrorist attack in Central Jakarta and amid the looming threat from the Islamic State (IS) movement, the government is currently seeking to amend the Terrorism Law to strengthen the country'€™s counterterrorism measures.

In the meeting with Said Aqil, Jokowi also said that he had instructed Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan and Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin to regulate sermons, particularly in government offices, which in the past few years had become more incendiary compared with those delivered in mosques and prayer houses in rural areas.

'€œSermons at government offices, particularly at the offices of state-owned enterprises, are frightening,'€ Said Aqil said.

Said Aqil said that the regulation would not be take the form of censorship or surveillance, but only a form of recommendation.

Responding to Jokowi'€™s call, Said Aqil also said that NU clerics would continue preaching a moderate version of Islam and educating Muslims on the danger of radicalism through state-owned television channel TVRI, and national broadcaster RRI.

Luhut, meanwhile, said the President wanted all mass organizations to join hands in raising awareness on deradicalization efforts, as well as drug issues.

With regard to sermons, Luhut said the government would not impose surveillance. '€œIt is not about controlling [the sermons], but a call for the sermons to channel the peaceful side of Islam, instead of issues which, to some extent, can be provocative,'€ Luhut said.

He said the government would work with the community in addressing the problems of terrorism and drug abuse. '€œThe government cannot work alone in addressing terrorism and drugs,'€ Luhut said.

Luhut said Jokowi would turn Friday'€™s meetings into a regular forum through which Islamic-based organizations could discuss a number of current problems with him.

Earlier the government expressed concern over the volume of religious sermons broadcast by mosques.

Last year, the government set up a new team to reduce noise from mosques, as places of worship go into overdrive during the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan.

There are approximately 800,000 mosques in the world'€™s most populous Muslim-majority nation but residents living nearby have long complained that their speakers are too loud.