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In Riyadh summit, Jokowi emphasizes soft approach for curbing radicalism
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and First Lady Iriana arrive in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Presidential Office/File)
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n front of the 55 heads of state who attended the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo espoused religious and cultural approaches to countering radicalism and extremism.
Both hard power and soft power must be put to use since a military approach is not enough to uproot the terrorism that stems from the wrong understanding of a religion, Jokowi said.
“Society, the family members of former terrorist convicts and community organizations have been involved in the deradicalization program [in Indonesia],” he said.
Jokowi also claimed that besides collaborating with young social media influencers to spread peace messages to their followers, the Indonesian government has also worked together with the two biggest Muslims organizations in the country, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, to promote tolerance among Muslims.
“Muslims are the biggest victims of the radicalism, terrorism and conflicts,” Jokowi said. Therefore, the President added, the summit must be an opportunity for all the leaders to join hands in countering terrorism and to send peaceful messages to the world. (hol/wit)
