The envoy suggested that a boycott would hurt not only his country’s economic interests but also Indonesia’s own, as he backed Macron’s campaign against the misuse of religion to overturn the European country’s liberal values.

Some 50,000 Indonesian workers employed by French companies could be among those affected, Chambard noted, by a global boycott launched last week in response to Macron’s declaration of war on “separatism”, which he insists is taking root in some French Muslim communities.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has backed calls for a boycott on French products, according to a statement signed by MUI secretary-general Anwar Abbas earlier this month. Muslim countries such as Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan and Bangladesh have already begun boycotting French-made goods.

“It's a bit like shooting your own foot to boycott products that are made in Indonesia, produced in Indonesia, sold in Indonesia and sometimes to the region, [which is] good for Indonesian exports,” he told reporters in a press briefing on Monday.

France currently ranks 19^th in terms of investments in Indonesia and is fifth among European countries such as the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany.

During the Indonesia Infrastructure Investment Forum (IIIF) coorganized by the Indonesian Embassy in Paris and the MEDEF International nonprofit organization, Indonesia offered up 41 major infrastructure projects to French investors amounting to US$439.98 billion in various sectors, including transportation, electricity, logistics and eco-city development.

Furthermore, the ambassador said a boycott would likely affect the “good image of Indonesia as a land for foreign investment” while underscoring the fact that French companies had long-term investments in Indonesia.

The government is currently implementing various reforms that aim to make it easier to do business in the country as a means to secure more investments.

This includes the contentious Job Creation Law that has been criticized for its opaque deliberation and passage.

Previously, Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar dismissed the calls to boycott French products, arguing that it would be impossible to track which products were imported from France, as some are branded as French products but are actually produced in Indonesia.

At the end of October, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed regret over Macron’s statement linking religion with terrorism.

“Terrorism is terrorism. Terrorists are terrorists. Terrorism does not have any connection with any religion,” Jokowi said.

The French leader declared war on “Islamist separatism” as the country mourned the loss of history teacher Samuel Paty, who was murdered gruesomely last month for allegedly showing cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in a class discussion on free speech, agencies reported.

Macron hailed Paty as a "hero" for representing the secular, free-thinking values of the French Republic, which include a long-cherished right to mock religion.

The French president also plans in the coming months to submit a draft law to parliament designed to reinforce laïcité and tackle Islamist separatism. Laïcité is France’s distinct version of secularism that separates religion and public life. The principle was enshrined in law in 1905 after anticlerical struggles with the Catholic Church.

Under the bill, homeschooling would be severely restricted to prevent children from being “indoctrinated” in unregistered schools that deviate from the national curriculum, Reuters reported.

UIN Syarif Hidayatullah lecturer and researcher Saiful Umam noted that Macron’s interpretation of a group of radicalized Muslims who refuse to adopt French values as “separatists” is relatively new.

“I think he is trying to make a new interpretation, that ‘separatist’ is not in the sense of separating themselves into a separate state but into a different group within a state with a different system,” he said.

Chambard further elaborated that Macron’s idea of separatism was the “kind of religious separatism inside [France’s] territory” that would “pit people against each other”.

“What those terrorists are trying to do, they are trying to incite among French people hatred of Muslims. Then they wait for the French people to retaliate against innocent Muslims,” he said, adding that it was important to not confuse terrorists with innocent Muslims.

He went on to say that his country had welcomed religious immigrants for centuries and they could keep their religious way of life, but they were members of the French community. Therefore, when they created a separate community with their own rules, such as sharia, that could be “very dangerous separatism”, he said.

Leading Islamic scholar Azyumardi Azra argued that French officials had emphasized their country’s value of liberté (liberty) more than the other two values — égalité (equality) and fraternité (fraternity).

He said since World War II, Muslims have immigrated to the country and now there were third- or fourth-generation French Muslims on top of the refugees that came to the country in the last few decades, making them the second-biggest religious minority after Catholics.

However, they were generally not integrated into French social, economic and political life because they were poor and lived in slum areas, according to Azyumardi.

“The next task of the French government and citizens is to balance between liberte, egalite and fraternite. As the people are becoming increasingly diverse socially, religiously and culturally, prioritizing liberte without egalite and fraternite leads to conflict and violence.”