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JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday “strongly condemned” French President Emmanuel Macron’s defense of the right to publish cartoons deemed offensive to Islam.
Widodo, the leader of the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, also criticized freedom of expression that “damages the honor, purity and sanctity of religious values and symbols.”
France has been rocked by multiple deadly attacks in recent weeks that are suspected of being linked to Islamist extremism, including the latest at a church in Nice on Thursday when a man with a knife killed three people.
Macron’s comment came after an extremist this month beheaded a teacher in a Paris suburb for showing students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression.
The French leader’s promise to “not give up cartoons” in defense of freedom of expression sparked a wave of protests across the Muslim world and calls for a boycott of French products in various nations.
“First of all, Indonesia strongly condemns the violence in Paris and Nice,” Widodo said on Saturday.
Second, Indonesia also strongly condemns the statement by the French president that has insulted Islam, hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world and could divide the unity of religious believers … just when the world needs unity to confront the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cartoons at the heart of Macron’s comments were those published multiple times by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, whose offices were attacked in 2015 by Islamist extremists.
“Freedom of expression that damages the honor, purity and sanctity of religious values and symbols cannot be justified and must be stopped,” said Widodo.
“Linking a religion with an act of terrorism is a big mistake. Terrorism is terrorism, terrorists are terrorists. Terrorism has nothing to do with any religion. “
This week, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador over Macron’s comments, while protests took place in several major cities.
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