Indonesia say prophets cartoon riots are unjust
The groundswell of emotion that has surrounded the drawing of Prophet Mohammed is breathtaking. There is much debate over the issue of freedom of expression vs. religious respect. I’m not going to get into that here, but will say I can see both sides. Yesterday Indonesian President SBY said the cartoons were an insult to Muslims and should not have been printed. Knowing now that Muslims regard that kind of thing as provocation, I agree with him.
SBY is a solid guy and not a reactionary. He is also the leader of the worlds biggest Muslim country and has to show solidarity with other Muslims. Today Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirajuda said “The cartoons have hurt the Islamic community, so it has added to ammunition for (global) radical groups to exploit the situation and the whole thing has got out of proportion.”
SBY has met with representatives from Iran recently to talk about nuclear proliferation, and will invite North Korea’s leader to Indonesia for talks. I think SBY is a great stabilizing presence in this region. By the way, the fact that a French magazine republished the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, after its has been widely publicized that Muslims find them offensive, is plain provocation in my view.
By Nick | Permalink
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Comments
What I don’t understand is why Muslim terrorists can murder women and children, Beslan, Iraq, etc…. and their is no reaction from the Muslim world. But when a foreign country publishes a cartoon that they have never seen their is mass outrage. I think they need to get their priorities right.
The provocative nature in which Syria and Iran pursue international relations leads one to believe that they are indeed capable of anything, if only because they have “nothing to lose.” It is a sad fact that in both of these totalitarian regimes, nothing happens without the express permission of the government. As such, there is absolutely NO way that these mass “spontaneous” demonstrations would be allowed. The only subtle manipulation seems to be coming from Iran, who as we know, will be coming under Security Council scrutiny very shortly for their brazen violations of intenational atomic energy agreements. They are saying, “If you punish me, I can punish you in the court of world opinion.” Syria is simply a rogue regime that would welcome any way to shift world attention from their shameful exploitation of Lebanon. They choose to do this by actively encouraging violent demonstrations.
On a lighter/side note, Andrew of Arabia is also good for a laugh every now and then.
Imagine the outrage though with the christians if jesus was widley portrayed as a homosexual…shit the good ol’ usa would invade
When the 4000 year old world famous sacred Buddhas stautes were blown out by the Taliban,to the dismay and anger of the bushists ,and hindus of the world,the Nuslims of the world just kept quite. When 3000 innocent office goers were mercilesly bombed and burnt alive in the World-Trade Center,the Muslims of Palestine danced in the street. Dear Muslims,is this what your religion teaches?- Only Muslims should live in this world?- Why you take so much trouble to punish the cartoonist? If Allah is angry with the cartoon can’t he have so much power to punish him?Is he so powerless,as to depend upon his followers to protect his honour? Just tell me which other religionists behave like this?
Some of the anti Jewish cartoons that get routinely printed in the Arab press, some of which were in the UK papers last week, look ten times more offensive to me than the Mohammed cartoons I’ve seen.
Publish a cartoon and we’ll chop your head off is also pretty provocative.