Clinton arrives in Indonesia amid protests

19/02/2009| IslamWeb

Hillary Clinton has arrived in Indonesia on a visit aimed at "reaching out" to the Muslim world.

The US secretary of state is on a four-nation tour of Asia - her first foreign trip since talking up the post last month.

Upon her arrival in Jakarta on Wednesday, Clinton is expected to hold talks with senior government officials, including Susilo Yudhoyono, the president.

Addressing students at Tokyo University in Japan on Tuesday, she said: "We have a responsibility to speak out and to work with the Muslim world on behalf of positive change and to enlist the help of Muslims around the world against the extremists.

"And it is very difficult in many parts of the world today to do that."

'New way forward'

In his inauguration address on January 20, Barack Obama, the US president, vowed to seek a "new way forward" with Muslim majority countries, "based on mutual interest and respect".

Clinton acknowledged on Tuesday that the war in Iraq was a key stumbling block to better US-Muslim ties.

She also said that one of the central security challenges faced by the US government is "how to better communicate in a way that gets through the rhetoric and through the demagogy and is heard by people who can make judgments about what we stand for and who we truly are".

Clinton's remarks came in response to a question about "prejudice" in the US against Muslims, a term she rejected, pointing to the history of Christians.

"I am a Christian," she said.

"Through the centuries we have had many people who have done terrible things in the name of Christianity. They have perverted the religion."

Security tightened

Security had been stepped up in Jakarta in advance of Clinton's arrival.

Thousands of policemen were deployed across the Indonesian capital as officials prepared for possible unrest linked to anti-US demonstrations.

Indonesia has had a love-hate relationship with the US since the 1960s, marked by US support for Suharto, who was ousted as president in 1998 and was viewed by many as a military dictator.

Indonesians also oppose the "war on terror" launched by the previous US administration of George Bush.

PHOTO CAPTION

Indonesian Muslim women hold placards during a protest outside the U.S.

 

Agencies