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Nahdlatul Ulama condemns Trump administration for lack of 'democratic values'
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Against radicalism: Indonesia's biggest Islamic organization (NU) chairman Said Aqil Siradj said politics must be free from religious sentiments and money politics during his speech at the closing ceremony of the NU national meeting in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Nov. 25. (JP/Panca Nugraha)
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ollowing widespread protests and rioting in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Islamic mass organization, has condemned the administration of United States President Donald Trump for its failure to display democratic values.
“The election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States has revealed the rot of democracy in America, which has always acted as the ‘police’ of world democracy,” NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said in a video statement posted on the organization’s YouTube channel on Friday.
“Justice, equal rights, equity and non-discrimination for all members of society are democratic values that America has failed to demonstrate,” he said. “America’s ‘double standard’ on human rights issues, free trade and terrorism have shown the pockmarked face of a democracy that is not worth emulating.”
While he said that NU saw democracy as the best political system that was in line with the shura (mutual discussion on equal footing) teachings of Islam, he said that the organization rejected the “uniformity of American-style liberal democracy”.
The death of George Floyd, an African-American resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, while being arrested by police has sparked weeks of ongoing anti-racism protests and riots demanding justice for Floyd and a systemic change in the American police and justice systems.
The issue also garnered international attention and support, putting a spotlight on global racism and equality issues. Indonesian rights advocates and young people, for example, have brought attention to the long-lasting racism issues that affected Papuan citizens, using the hashtag #PapuanLivesMatter similar to the #BlackLivesMatter slogan used during the protests in many western countries.
