Indonesia condemns the statement of the French president

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Indonesian government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the statement by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is considered to have insulted Islam.

“This statement has hurt the feelings of more than 2 billion Muslims around the world and has broken the unity of religious communities in the world,” said a written statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Exteriors. Kompas.com from the official website, Friday (10/30/2020).

The Ministry of Foreign Relations stressed that the right to freedom of expression should not be exercised in violation of honor, sanctity and the sacredness of religious values ​​and symbols.

“As the third-largest democracy and the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia invites all countries to foster unity and tolerance among religious communities, especially amid the current pandemic situation,” added the appeal from the Ministry of External relationships.

Also read: Indonesia condemns the deadly attack in France

Previously, France was the subject of intense scrutiny for refusing to condemn the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by satire magazine Charlie Hebdo in September. These events sparked outrage in many Muslim-majority countries and sparked calls for a boycott of French products.

Furthermore, Macron’s comments on Islam have also drawn ire in Muslim-majority countries. Macron said he would fight all forms of “Islamic separatism” after the beheading of a teacher named Samuel Paty on the outskirts of Paris in early October.

Paty was previously killed for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his students in class on freedom of expression.

In the last two months there have been several bloody incidents after Charlie Hebdo published the cartoon. First, the attack near Charlie Hebdo’s former office on September 24, the attack on security guards at the French Consulate office in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the attack that killed three people in Nice on Thursday ( 10/29/2020).