U.S. Embassy Asked to Hold Dialogues With Muslim Officials

July 17, 2006

Source: Antara News

http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=16435

On July 17, 2006 Antara News reported, "In relation with Israeli military ag[g]ressions against Palestine and Lebanon, the United States embassy here was expected to hold constructive dialogs with Muslim figures from various organizations to avoid religious sentiment in the country, Intelligent observer Wawan Purwanto said here on Monday. 'The US embassy should actively compose Indonesian Muslim's mass organizations by holding constructive dialogs with their leaders, as well as central figures of Defence Ministry, Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) and National Police chief,' Wawan Purwanto noted. Wawan said religious sentiment among the people of Indonesia, the world`s most populous Muslim country, is easily agitated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Middle East problem in general so an integrated preventive measure greatly needed in this regard. 'Therefore, religious elements and the US embassy should be jointly active in taking preventive measures because if they failed to do so, a chaotic situation and religious sentiment in Indonesia would be inevitable,' Wawan said."