ID :
70170
Mon, 07/13/2009 - 19:12
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/70170
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News Focus: GOVT URGED TO PROTEST CHINA`S ACTIONS AGAINST UIGHUR MUSLIMS
By Eliswan Azly
Jakarta, July 12 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has been urged to protest the Chinese government for prohibiting Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region to perform Friday prayers in their mosques as part of its measures to quell the ethnic minority group's uprising in one of China's western provinces which has already killed 156 people and injured hundreds of others.
"As the world's largest Muslim country, Indonesia must urge the Chinese government to stop the violence (in the region) and allow Muslim Uighurs to resume prayer services in their mosques," the chief of the Indonesian Muslim Workers Association's (PPMI)law-making body, Eggi Sudjana, said on Sunday.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) was expected to contact his Chinese counterpart to request that legal measures be taken against Chinese security personnel involved in the torture of Muslim Uighurs and the closure of mosques for Friday prayers, he said.
"This is the first test for SBY in the wake of the presidential and vice presidential election," he said.
According to him, Yudhoyono should hold a dialog with Indonesian Muslim figures to prevent the incident in China from prompting Indonesian Muslims to take retaliatory actions.
"We fear the case will expand to sensitive issues such as racial and religious ones in Indonesia," he said.
Violence erupted last Sunday in Uruqmi, capital of China's Xinjiang region, where Muslims make up the majority group.
The official Xinhua news agency quoting the regional government reported last Saturday the death toll from violence in Urumqi had risen to 184.
Earlier in the day, Indonesian Ambassador to China Sudrajat said the Indonesian government would not interfere in the events in Uruqmi.
"What is happening in Xinjiang is China's internal affair. We respect China's sovereignty over the region and will not meddle in the matter," he said.
Sudrajat said he believed China would be able to deal with the unrest based on its law and thus, social life there would soon return to normal.
Indonesia had always stuck to its principle of non-interference in China's internal affairs, be it separatism in Xinjiang, Tibet or Taiwan, Sudrajat said.
In the meantime, the Indonesian parliament (DPR) had reportedly urged the United Nations to immediately help overcome the conflict in Urumqi.
Chairman of the Indonesian House's Commission III Patrialis Akbar made the remark during an interview on Saturday, saying that the United Nations should immediately help solve the conflict raging in Urumqi, which eventually prompted the Chinese government to forbid Moslems in the conflict area to perform Friday prayers in their mosques.
The violence, which may have been the deadliest in China since the Tiannanmen Square incident in 1989, broke out in the regional capital Urumqi last Sunday night when tension between Uighurs and Han Chinese boiled over.
The Chinese authorities who blamed exiled Muslim Uighur separatists for the trouble were in turn accused of heavy-handed repression which, according to the claim of one Uighur representative, may have left up to 400 people dead.
Both the Chinese (Han) and Uyghur populations eventually wished for control of the exploration and exploitation of the oil reserves in Xinjiang. Most of the oil workers are Han migrants from surrounding areas. At the Lunnan oil station, where the energy pipeline to eastern China begins, none of the hundreds of workers is Uighur.
"The Chinese government has blatantly violated human rights and committed crimes against the community by repressing the Uighur ethnic most of whom are moslems. Therefore the UN should overcome the human tragedy and hold the Chinese government respomsible for the repressive actions," he said.
According to him, Chinese repressive measures through violence by killing and banning religious activity among Uighur Muslims had actually undermined the dignity of human beings. "This should no longer exist in today's world."
"All people should give the right and freedom to perform their respective religious activity. It is for that purpose that we ask the Chinese government to stop killing and discriminating against the Uighur ethnic people," said Akbar of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction in the House.
Another legislator, Irman Gusman, vice chairman of the Regional Representives Council, also deplored the human violence against the minority Uighur moslems in Urumqi.
"Discriminative measures against a certain ethnic roup, violent repression and banning the people from conducting their religious activities are categorized as a violation of human rights. Hence we should blame the brutal action by the Chinese security authorities, as humanity is universal in natural," Gusman said over the week-end.
Apart from the religion of Uighur residents, the most important thing to note is that the way how the Chinese government has banned the people in the conflicting area is against human rights, he said.
Gusman stressed that the violent action had to be immediately stopped, as it had to do with the internal affairs of Chinese government itself.
The Chinese government was responsible for preventing the spread of inter-ethnic clashes and as a friendly country, Indonesia had no intention to intervene in the internal affairs of that country.
"Considering that the violation had to do with belief and human crimes, this is no longer only the internal affairs of China, but also of the international community," Gusman said.
Ichwan Sam, the Secretary General of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), meanwhile deplored the policy of the Chinese government in banning Uighur moslems from performing their Friday prayers at the mosques in Urumqi, Xianjiang, as the freedom of conducting religious activities is the human right of each citizen.
Performing religious activities like prayers and a get-together in learning the belief were the right of each citizen. Accordingly, the Chinese government should protect the religious activity, he said when contacted by phone.
However, if the policy was taken under an emergency condition in a bid to prevent the clashes from spreading to a large scale, it was still understandable, he said, adding that the ban should not last longer. ***
Jakarta, July 12 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has been urged to protest the Chinese government for prohibiting Muslim Uighurs in the Xinjiang region to perform Friday prayers in their mosques as part of its measures to quell the ethnic minority group's uprising in one of China's western provinces which has already killed 156 people and injured hundreds of others.
"As the world's largest Muslim country, Indonesia must urge the Chinese government to stop the violence (in the region) and allow Muslim Uighurs to resume prayer services in their mosques," the chief of the Indonesian Muslim Workers Association's (PPMI)law-making body, Eggi Sudjana, said on Sunday.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) was expected to contact his Chinese counterpart to request that legal measures be taken against Chinese security personnel involved in the torture of Muslim Uighurs and the closure of mosques for Friday prayers, he said.
"This is the first test for SBY in the wake of the presidential and vice presidential election," he said.
According to him, Yudhoyono should hold a dialog with Indonesian Muslim figures to prevent the incident in China from prompting Indonesian Muslims to take retaliatory actions.
"We fear the case will expand to sensitive issues such as racial and religious ones in Indonesia," he said.
Violence erupted last Sunday in Uruqmi, capital of China's Xinjiang region, where Muslims make up the majority group.
The official Xinhua news agency quoting the regional government reported last Saturday the death toll from violence in Urumqi had risen to 184.
Earlier in the day, Indonesian Ambassador to China Sudrajat said the Indonesian government would not interfere in the events in Uruqmi.
"What is happening in Xinjiang is China's internal affair. We respect China's sovereignty over the region and will not meddle in the matter," he said.
Sudrajat said he believed China would be able to deal with the unrest based on its law and thus, social life there would soon return to normal.
Indonesia had always stuck to its principle of non-interference in China's internal affairs, be it separatism in Xinjiang, Tibet or Taiwan, Sudrajat said.
In the meantime, the Indonesian parliament (DPR) had reportedly urged the United Nations to immediately help overcome the conflict in Urumqi.
Chairman of the Indonesian House's Commission III Patrialis Akbar made the remark during an interview on Saturday, saying that the United Nations should immediately help solve the conflict raging in Urumqi, which eventually prompted the Chinese government to forbid Moslems in the conflict area to perform Friday prayers in their mosques.
The violence, which may have been the deadliest in China since the Tiannanmen Square incident in 1989, broke out in the regional capital Urumqi last Sunday night when tension between Uighurs and Han Chinese boiled over.
The Chinese authorities who blamed exiled Muslim Uighur separatists for the trouble were in turn accused of heavy-handed repression which, according to the claim of one Uighur representative, may have left up to 400 people dead.
Both the Chinese (Han) and Uyghur populations eventually wished for control of the exploration and exploitation of the oil reserves in Xinjiang. Most of the oil workers are Han migrants from surrounding areas. At the Lunnan oil station, where the energy pipeline to eastern China begins, none of the hundreds of workers is Uighur.
"The Chinese government has blatantly violated human rights and committed crimes against the community by repressing the Uighur ethnic most of whom are moslems. Therefore the UN should overcome the human tragedy and hold the Chinese government respomsible for the repressive actions," he said.
According to him, Chinese repressive measures through violence by killing and banning religious activity among Uighur Muslims had actually undermined the dignity of human beings. "This should no longer exist in today's world."
"All people should give the right and freedom to perform their respective religious activity. It is for that purpose that we ask the Chinese government to stop killing and discriminating against the Uighur ethnic people," said Akbar of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction in the House.
Another legislator, Irman Gusman, vice chairman of the Regional Representives Council, also deplored the human violence against the minority Uighur moslems in Urumqi.
"Discriminative measures against a certain ethnic roup, violent repression and banning the people from conducting their religious activities are categorized as a violation of human rights. Hence we should blame the brutal action by the Chinese security authorities, as humanity is universal in natural," Gusman said over the week-end.
Apart from the religion of Uighur residents, the most important thing to note is that the way how the Chinese government has banned the people in the conflicting area is against human rights, he said.
Gusman stressed that the violent action had to be immediately stopped, as it had to do with the internal affairs of Chinese government itself.
The Chinese government was responsible for preventing the spread of inter-ethnic clashes and as a friendly country, Indonesia had no intention to intervene in the internal affairs of that country.
"Considering that the violation had to do with belief and human crimes, this is no longer only the internal affairs of China, but also of the international community," Gusman said.
Ichwan Sam, the Secretary General of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), meanwhile deplored the policy of the Chinese government in banning Uighur moslems from performing their Friday prayers at the mosques in Urumqi, Xianjiang, as the freedom of conducting religious activities is the human right of each citizen.
Performing religious activities like prayers and a get-together in learning the belief were the right of each citizen. Accordingly, the Chinese government should protect the religious activity, he said when contacted by phone.
However, if the policy was taken under an emergency condition in a bid to prevent the clashes from spreading to a large scale, it was still understandable, he said, adding that the ban should not last longer. ***
