REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs Wiranto urged Muslims in the country to maintain security and political stability and adhere to laws with regard to making the country to remain peaceful and stable. He stated that in a dialog with Islamic organization leaders at his office, Jakarta.
"As Muslims who comprise the majority of the Indonesia population we must jointly with security authorities maintain political and security stability and abide by the law. This must be our obligation to make the country temain stable and peaceful to allow development to ptogress," he said on Friday (Nov 9).
Wiranto said he had invited Islamic leaders, clerics and organization leaders to the meeting to discuss a number of issues including Islamic brotherhood, Islamic and givernment relations, tawhid and issues of faith that have caused arguments following recent burning of a flag considered by the actors as the flag of banned Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia organization. He reiterated that the police had already settled it according to the law with all the perpetrators in the case had been sentenced.
Religious affairs minister Lukman Hakim Syarifudin who was present at the meeting said that the meeting was very important and strategic with regard to bridging view differences to preserve good relations. He said the diversity that exists in the country must be seen as God's blessing and so must be preserved.
A representative from GP Anshor organization, Khairul Anwar, said the organization deplored the incident in Garut, West Java, very much.
"This must never happen again and we have already reaffirmed it among our members. If it happens again we will take a firm action. Again we offer an apology for the problem," he said.
The secretary general of the Nahdlatul Ulama organization. Helmy Faishal Zaini, shared Anwar's view and hoped that all parties would exercise restraint over the problem.
"GP Ansor (the youth wing of NU) has given sanctions to its Banser members that have burned the flag and ordered that none would take the law into their own hands. It must be understood that it is a regrettable incident," he said.