Moderate teachings of Islam need to be further strengthened in Indonesia to counter the rise of extremist movements, vice-presidential candidate Ma’ruf Amin said, as the country faces a myriad of challenges in preserving its mix of religious and secular values underpinned by the national ideology, Pancasila.

The Muslim cleric was in Singapore to deliver a public lecture on wasatiyyah (middle way) Islam in Indonesia at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) on Wednesday.

Indonesia has been hit by at least half a dozen major terrorist attacks in the past few years, including the Thamrin bombing in Jakarta and the church bombing in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, in 2016, as well as a prison riot in Depok, West Java, and suicide bombings involving members of a radicalized family in Surabaya, East Java, earlier this year.

The rise of extremist movements in Indonesia was not only triggered by domestic qualms, but also by issues in the international space, Ma’ruf argues.

Such movements are usually based on the demand that Islam must be fully accommodated in the political reality of a country, based on the assumption that the Muslim population has always been marginalized by “anti-Islam regimes”.

And they often make use of solidarity among Muslims as an excuse to justify their extreme actions.

“We must [therefore] restore and strengthen the wasatiyyah values, to restore the principle of nationality and state,” he said in a prepared speech obtained by The Jakarta Post.

In quoting the Arabic verse ar-ruju’ ilal mabda (going back to the basics), the former Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman urged the Muslim constituency to return to the values that were fundamental in the establishment of a united Indonesia.

“With wasatiyyah Islam, Islamists and Nationalists can unite and agree on the Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, which gave birth to the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.

A year after the emergence of the Islamic State in 2014, Indonesia’s largest Islamic organizations — the Nadhlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah — and the MUI were crucial in the continued support for the values imbued in Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

Besides giving the public lecture, Ma’ruf also met Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday, having discussed the importance of building a fair economy and ways to deal with economic disparities.

“We discussed how our two countries can maintain our strong relations, and work together for mutual benefit,” Lee said on his official Facebook page.

On Tuesday evening, Ma’ruf and his entourage attended a dinner hosted by the island state’s top diplomat, Vivian Balakrishnan.

“There is much scope to do more together, and learn from one another, for the mutual benefit of our people,” Balakrishnan also said on Facebook.

Ma’ruf also met members of the Indonesian diaspora at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore, where he was accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador Ngurah Swajaya and Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto.

Among the figures who the cleric met are former Bank Indonesia governor Soedrajad Djiwandono and musician Chandra Darusman, the younger brother of Golkar politician Marzuki Darusman.

There are around 200,000 Indonesian citizens living in Singapore, the majority of whom are employed as domestic workers.

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