Indonesia Says Rise of One Nation Party in Australia a ‘Concern’

Pauline Hanson in a rally recently.

Jakarta, 27 Jumadil Awwal 1438/24 February 2017 (MINA) – The rise of political parties with challenging views on Islam such as Australia’s One Nation are a “concern”, the Indonesian foreign ministry says.

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The minor party’s leader, Pauline Hanson, has called for a halt to Muslim immigration, surveillance cameras in mosques and schools and a royal commission into whether Islam is a policy or an ideology.

“It’s a concern for any country; for Indonesia when it happens in Indonesia and also I’m sure it’s a concern for Australia,”  AAP quoted Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman, Arrmanatha Nasir, as telling reporters.

Indonesia is home to world’s biggest Muslim population. It was “important” for Indonesia and Australia to forge close links between their communities “so that we can have better understanding of what is Islam is all about”, Nasir said.

“As you can see in Indonesia, Islam can go perfectly hand in hand … with democracy, with other religions. So this is the value, the culture that we would like also to share with our Australian colleagues.”

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The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, is visiting Australia for two days from Saturday to hold talks with prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull. He plans to raise the idea of joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea, according to a report in the Australian on Friday.

“If there is no tension I think it’s very important to have patrols together,” he said in an interview.

Jokowi’s visit is very important

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In London Thursday, Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, said if Widodo raised the issue “we will certainly take it onboard”.

“But it’s not a matter that he’s directly raised with us,” she told reporters.

Nasir said on Thursday talks on maritime cooperation, security and industry were expected to lead to the signing of memorandums of understanding in Sydney.

The leaders will also discuss economic cooperation, education, cyber security and tourism.

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“This visit is very important because it’s showing, especially for us, that we are close neighbour,” Nasir said. (T/RS05/RS01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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