Mainly Muslim Indonesia expressed its willingness to send peacekeepers to war-torn Iraq and encourage other Muslim states to do the same.
Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the U.S. President George W. Bush during his latest visit to Jakarta that any long-term solution in Iraq should include more countries than those currently involved.
The Indonesian President also told his American counterpart that national reconciliation and progress in rebuilding should decided the timetable for U.S. occupation forces to leave Iraq.
President Bush, who made no comment on the Indonesian suggestions after the Nov. 20 meeting, has opposed setting a timetable for withdrawal.
"For Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, we cannot just take part in reading about it without doing anything. We cannot lay back. The international community has seen no sign on how to resolve this problem," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said, according to Reuters.
"We are not just throwing around concepts. We are active in conducting efforts so that those concepts could be accepted by all parties," he said.
Asked whether Indonesia would send forces as part of a future peacekeeping mission in Iraq, Wirajuda said: "If we have that opportunity, why not?"
Mr. Wirajuda also said that Indonesia would be willing to convince other Muslim nations to follow suit.
Indonesia and the U.S. are in accord on many issues, but some policies by the Bush administration, especially in the Middle East, are unpopular in the country of 220 million, 85% of them Muslims.
Jakarta has consistently criticized the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and many Indonesians are angry over the U.S.’s military actions in mainly-Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier this week, thousands of Indonesians staged protests ahead of Bush’s visit to their country. "Essentially, we all agree that Bush is a murderer in the eyes of Muslims across the world,” said a demonstrator and a member of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
In Jakarta, people marched to the presidential palace carrying posters that read "Punish Bush the war criminal" and "Bush master terrorist".
-- AJP and Agencies
Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the U.S. President George W. Bush during his latest visit to Jakarta that any long-term solution in Iraq should include more countries than those currently involved.
The Indonesian President also told his American counterpart that national reconciliation and progress in rebuilding should decided the timetable for U.S. occupation forces to leave Iraq.
President Bush, who made no comment on the Indonesian suggestions after the Nov. 20 meeting, has opposed setting a timetable for withdrawal.
"For Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, we cannot just take part in reading about it without doing anything. We cannot lay back. The international community has seen no sign on how to resolve this problem," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said, according to Reuters.
"We are not just throwing around concepts. We are active in conducting efforts so that those concepts could be accepted by all parties," he said.
Asked whether Indonesia would send forces as part of a future peacekeeping mission in Iraq, Wirajuda said: "If we have that opportunity, why not?"
Mr. Wirajuda also said that Indonesia would be willing to convince other Muslim nations to follow suit.
Indonesia and the U.S. are in accord on many issues, but some policies by the Bush administration, especially in the Middle East, are unpopular in the country of 220 million, 85% of them Muslims.
Jakarta has consistently criticized the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and many Indonesians are angry over the U.S.’s military actions in mainly-Muslim Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier this week, thousands of Indonesians staged protests ahead of Bush’s visit to their country. "Essentially, we all agree that Bush is a murderer in the eyes of Muslims across the world,” said a demonstrator and a member of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
In Jakarta, people marched to the presidential palace carrying posters that read "Punish Bush the war criminal" and "Bush master terrorist".
-- AJP and Agencies
