REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - German Chancellor Angela Dorothea Merkel visited Istiqlal grand Mosque here on Tuesday as part of her state visit to Indonesia, before the meeting with Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). During the visit to Southeast Asia`s largest mosque, Merkel was accompanied by the mosque`s imam Ahmad Husni Ismail and the chief of mosque`s executive management board, Mubarak.

Merkel is in Indonesia for a two-day visit to reciprocate SBY`s visit to Germany in 2009. While in Indonesia, Merkel will hold meetings with business people, journalists, human rights activists and the chief of the constitutional court.

She visited the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and Immanuel Church in Jakarta. She is also expected to discuss regional security issues with her Indonesian counterpart, including piracy in the Malacca Strait, the world`s busiest sea lane.

CCI raises issue of radicalism

The Indonesian Churches Communion (CCI) discussed with the Chancellor, during her visit to Immanuel Church, the issue of radicalism in Indonesia. Immanuel Church is the oldest Dutch church in Jakarta.

"I told her about how religious harmony in Indonesia is being disturbed by radical forces," CCI Chairman Pdt Andreas Anangguru Yeowangoe said after meeting with Merkel on Tuesday. "She paid attention to the issue and would convey it to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," Yeowangoe added.

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