By NNN-Antara,
Jakarta : Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin expressed hope that US President Barack Obama would in the future prioritize dialogs with Muslim figures if he really wanted to improve Washington’s relations with the Muslim world.
“I hope that a dialog with Muslim figures will always be a priority in the programs of US leaders visiting Indonesia in the future, if President Obama really wants to improve his country’s relations with the Muslim world,” Syamsuddin said in a statement released by the Center for Dialog and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC) here Friday.
The Muhammadiyah chairman apologized for not attending a banquet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Feb 18, because he had to give a speech before Asia-Pacific religious figures at the Interfaith Summit in Brisbane, Australia, the next day.
Syamsuddin said he had decided to skip the banquet with Hillary Clinton because issues affecting Islam were not a priority during her visit to Indonesia.
“In the past, when President George W Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prime Minister Balkenende and EU Secretary General Javier Solana were expected to visit Indonesia, I suggested to the US ambassador and our Foreign Ministry to put dialog with Muslim figures on their agendas,” Syamsuddin said.
He said his suggestion was based on the widespread opinion that President Barack Obama wanted to improve US relations with the Muslim world as was expressed at the Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on February 5, 2009 and information from the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha.
But in reality, he added, the US Embassy failed to set up a special meeting between Hillary Clinton and Muslim figures during the farmer’s two-day visit in Indonesia.