Hillary Clinton reaches out to Muslims in Indonesia

Boycott her !!!!!

Clinton says Indonesia shows Islam and modernity coexist

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held up Indonesia on Wednesday as proof that modernity and Islam can coexist as she visited the country where U.S. President Barack Obama spent four years as a boy. Clinton's 24-hour stay in the world's most populous Muslim nation underlined Obama's desire to forge a better relationship with the Islamic world, where his predecessor George W. Bush's policies were deeply unpopular, notably the invasion of Iraq.

Clinton, on her first trip as secretary of state, said she wanted to deepen cooperation between the two countries on counterterrorism, climate change and security.

"As I travel around the world over the next years, I will be saying to people: if you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity and women's rights can co-exist, go to Indonesia," she said at a dinner with civil society activists.

Clinton basked in Obama's popularity in Indonesia at every stop during her day, which included talks with the Indonesian foreign minister and a visit to the Jakarta headquarters of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Obama spent four years in Indonesia after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia shared the United States' "joy" at Obama's election and he wanted Clinton to go back and tell the U.S. president "we cannot wait too long" for a visit.

Playing on Obama's Indonesian ties, about 50 schoolchildren from the U.S. president's old school waved U.S. and Indonesian flags and sang folk songs to Clinton on the tarmac after she landed at an airport in the suburbs of Jakarta.

'DIPLOMATIC ABSENTEEISM'

Although Clinton got a generally warm welcome, about 100 Muslim students, some chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), held a protest rally at Jakarta's presidential palace, some throwing shoes at a picture of Clinton.
While most Indonesian Muslims are moderate, the country has a radical fringe and has suffered from sporadic bombings in recent years. More than 200 people, many of them foreigners, were killed when Islamist militants bombed tourist areas of the island of Bali in 2002.

Police have deployed 2,800 officers in the capital for Clinton's visit, part of a week-long trip that began in Tokyo and will include stops in Seoul and Beijing.

On Thursday Clinton will meet Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who seeking is a second term this year and is keen to showcase Indonesia's stability since its transformation from an autocracy under former President Suharto -- who was forced to resign in 1998 -- to a vibrant democracy.

At ASEAN, which critics often dismiss as a toothless talk shop, Clinton said Washington would study whether to join its Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, a step short of membership but that could signal stronger U.S. ties with Southeast Asia.

"Your visit shows the seriousness of the United States to end its diplomatic absenteeism in the region," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuan said after welcoming Clinton to the group's headquarters.

Seeking closer ties with ASEAN could be a tactic by the new U.S. administration to try to exert influence over Myanmar, which has been ruled by a military junta for decades.

Clinton, who this week said Washington was reviewing its Myanmar policy and hinted it may drop some sanctions, admitted U.S. policy has had no effect on Myanmar's government.

"Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions has not influenced the Burmese junta," she told reporters at the news conference with Wirajuda, referring to the country by its British colonial name. ""But ...reaching out and trying to engage them hasn't influenced them either," she said.

Clinton also announced the U.S. Peace Corps would be negotiating to resume volunteer work in Indonesia, four decades after it left the country during the turbulent 1960s.

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US Indonesia warmth for Clinton

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and appeared on a TV chat show in Indonesia.

She promised greater US efforts to build peace in the Middle East, a top concern of many Muslims in Indonesia.

Her visit to Jakarta was filled with mutual admiration as she praised Indonesia's democracy and freedoms.

After Jakarta she headed to South Korea, amid rising tension on the Korean peninsula.

Ahead of her arrival in Seoul, North Korea issued a warning to Seoul that it was ready for "all-out confrontation" - the latest in a series of similar statements from Pyongyang.

Mrs Clinton's visit also comes amid speculation North Korea may be preparing to test-fire a long-range missile, something that the US secretary has said would be "extremely unhelpful".

Middle East pledge

Hillary Clinton began the day by appearing on a leading TV chat show in Jakarta, where she spoke of her favourite music - the Beatles and the Rolling Stones - and tackled world issues.

Asked about the recent conflict in the Middle East, she pledged greater US engagement.

"We felt like the United States had not been as active in trying to bring the parties together to resolve the conflict," she said.

"We're going to work very hard to resolve what has been such a painful and difficult conflict for so many years."

She also announced her intention to attend a donors' pledging conference for rebuilding Gaza, to be held in Egypt in early March.

Indonesia can be a good partner for the US in reaching out to the Muslim world
Hassan Wirajuda
Indonesian foreign minister

Many Indonesians have been deeply troubled by US policy in the Middle East and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mrs Clinton had earlier praised Indonesia, where the majority of people profess a tolerant Islam, for achieving democracy, women's rights and religious freedom.

She also announced plans to re-start the Peace Corps programme of American volunteers to Indonesia, which had been stopped in the 1960s.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia could perform a powerful bridging role.

"Indonesia can be a good partner for the US in reaching out to the Muslim world," he said.

Rising tensions

In Seoul, Hillary Clinton's attention is set to focus on security concerns and North Korea's nuclear programme.

South Korea wants the US to help restart stalled six-party talks aimed at ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

The BBC's state department correspondent, Kim Ghattas, says that North Korea's sabre-rattling over the past few weeks is seen as an attempt to grab the attention of the Obama administration and improve its bargaining position when the talks eventually resume.

Mrs Clinton has warned North Korea against any provocative action and said Washington would be watching closely.

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format_quote Originally Posted by fairandbalanced

Calling Hillary Clinton a "murderer" is a well struck blow, sir, and it was delightfully clever, but you forgot to mention her chubby thighs and her lies about the Rose Law Firm records.

To referesh your memory, however, there is a new government in the US and she was only confirmed less than one month ago. Before that she was one vote out of 100 in the US Senate.

She also was criticized for hugging Arafat's wife immediately after she gave a speech lauding homicide bombers blowing up teeangers in a pizza parlor.....err.....I mean........martyrs for Palestine defending their homeland.

I don't know how you expect anyone to take you seriously when you start calling someone in office for 20 days a "murderer".

If you condone and actively support the actions of an agressor state and infact defend it, then you are complicit in it. Especially so when the US is underwriting this odious genocidal regime. She is a murderer to me, there's no question, just as Olmert and Obama are too.

She does not have to be secretary of state for people to understand what her record and her ideological perspective is on the middle east. A clinton state department is essentially another zionist outpost with a brief to entrench israeli primacy in the region and brutally continue to suppress the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and to castigate them for democratically electing Hamas as their government.

When the entire US administration is in thrall of zionist lobbyists and powerful related interests, fronted by people such as clinton, there is realistically not a whole lot one can expect individuals like George Mitchell to achieve in the way of progress. So understand the situation acutely before attempting to controvert facts with vapidly erroneous arguements.

Funny that Bush did the exact same thing in 2004, that time they used Turkey as an example. In fact they almost used the same words. Obama should sit down and read, "what a billion muslims think", if he is honest.

obama / bush are just different sides of the same coin.

this story when i read it just shows exactly where the west is going wrong,

they fly into a muslim country, speak to the rulers, many of whom the ulema classify as apostates, say how wonderfully modern it is and shows how islam and west is compatable blah blah blah whilst ignoring all the protests taking place.

then fly out pretending everything is fine and nothing wrong.

these people are blind and deaf to the truth.

format_quote Originally Posted by Grace Seeker

So, are you saying that:
a) Indonesia is NOT wonderfully modern?
or
b) Islam and the west are NOT compatable?
or
c) both?

i answer B

format_quote Originally Posted by Dawud_uk

i answer B

I ditto that.

So where does that leave western muslims?

format_quote Originally Posted by Pomak

So where does that leave western muslims?

Bear in mind that not all 'western Muslims' are practising Muslims. But for many, it leaves us with an identity crisis, struggling to reconcile our religious values with western values.