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UK envoy calls for concerted effort to tackle radical movements
UK Ambassador to Indonesia, ASEAN and Timor Leste Moazzam Malik has called on all elements in society to make a more concerted effort to tackle the spread of radical movements in the country.
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Closer ties – UK Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik talks to journalists at an event in Jakarta recently. The UK envoy has called on all elements in society to take tougher actions to curb the spread of radical movements in the country. (Tempo/Natalia Santi)
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K Ambassador to Indonesia, ASEAN and Timor Leste Moazzam Malik has called on all elements of society in Indonesia to make a more concerted effort to tackle the spread of radical movements in the country.
He reminded that preventing radical movements could not be conducted by only one country. “It needs cooperation,” the UK envoy said. He made the comments during his visit to Edi Mancoro pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Salatiga, Central Java, on Wednesday.
Ambassador Malik said that he learned pluralism, tolerance and radicalism prevention by visiting pesantren across Indonesia. In those visits, he said, he tried to speak not only with the leaders of the schools but also with their students, both males and females.
“During my assignment in Indonesia, I tried to communicate face-to-face with Indonesian youths. I saw that through education, young people can pave the way to knowledge in all fields. They can further play roles to maintain world peace,” he said during his dialogue with students at the pesantren.
Ambassador Malik said Indonesia was special as it was a country with the biggest Muslim population in the world.
“Indonesians have tolerant religious practices, and this is very relevant. I hope this situation will not be influenced by the current extremism trends abroad,” he said.
Ambassador Malik said radical movements in the Middle East that adopted takfirin, an ideology that easily referred to people as infidels, had spread to many countries.
“Don’t use violence to encourage other people to understand differences among us. The spread of the takfirin ideology from Middle East is quite dangerous. To fight any form of takfirin ideology, we must cooperate,” said the ambassador.
Edi Mancoro foundation chairman Muhammad Hanif said radical groups adopting takfirin also deemed people that had adopted different ideologies or Islamic teachings as infidels.
“The takfirin ideology is very dangerous,” he said, adding that all Edi Mancoro students were taught that Islam promoted peace and prosperity for all human beings.
During his visit in Central Java, Ambassador Malik also visited Futtuhiyah pesantren in Demak regency and the University of Wahid Hasyim in Semarang. (ebf)
