Pence visits mosque
‘Moderate Islam inspiration’
JAKARTA, April 20, (AFP): US Vice-President Mike Pence on Thursday toured the biggest mosque in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, during a visit seen as a bid by his administration to heal divisions with the Islamic world.
After kicking off his stop in Indonesia by praising the country’s moderate Islam as “an inspiration”, he visited Istiqlal Mosque, which can accommodate 200,000 worshippers and whose vast, white dome towers over downtown Jakarta.
He slipped off his shoes before being guided around the mosque, which is also the biggest in Southeast Asia, accompanied by his wife and two daughters in headscarves, as well as Istiqlal’s Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar.
His visit represents the most highprofile outreach to Muslims by the Donald Trump administration since the brash billionaire came to office and echoes a similar trip by Barack and Michelle Obama in 2010.
Since becoming president almost 100 days ago, Trump has hosted leaders from majority-Muslim Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
But his administration has also tried to ban travellers from several Muslimmajority nations, citing concerns about terrorism — an effort currently being challenged in US courts.
As a presidential candidate, Trump often appeared to flirt with the far right as he railed against “radical Islamic terrorism”.
But Pence struck a starkly different tone during his visit to Indonesia, which has often been praised as a successful Muslim democracy where most practise a moderate form of Islam and coexist peacefully with substantial religious minorities.
liance to confront ZANU PF between now and the next election in 2018,” Tsvangirai said, referring to the party led by Africa’s oldest leader. (RTRS)
Food smugglers crackdown:
Malawi has
Mugabe
“Indonesia’s tradition of moderate Islam is frankly an inspiration to the world and we commend you and your people,” he said after talks with President Joko Widodo at the presidential palace in Jakarta.
Jakarta’s Christian governor may escape jail for alleged blasphemy after prosecutors Thursday recommended only probation, a day after he lost in a religiously charged run-off that damaged Indonesia’s image as a bastion of tolerant Islam.
The recommendation of two years probation in the trial of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, with a possible one-year jail term if he commits a crime during that period, was lighter than expected as he could have been sent to prison for several years.
The sentence demand for allegedly insulting Islam came after he was defeated Wednesday by Muslim challenger Anies Baswedan who was accused of pandering to hardliners to win votes in the race for the Jakarta governorship.
After his victory, former government minister Baswedan celebrated with Islamic hardliners who helped organise mass protests in the capital against the governor by praying at a major mosque.
The blasphemy allegations and Purnama’s subsequent poll loss have sparked fears that pluralistic traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim country are under threat from the influence of hardliners, who pushed for the governor’s prosecution.
Chief prosecutor Ali Mukartono recommended that Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, be found guilty of blasphemy and be given two years probation, with a possible oneyear jail sentence.
tightened its border controls to stop profiteers smuggling much-needed maize out of the country in search of higher prices.
Months of drought had left more than a third of the population reliant on food aid, and the government last month invoked the Special Crops Act, which bans the export of some crops. The government deployed soldiers to seal its porous borders with Tanzania and Zambia, and impounded trucks that are smuggling out the staple crop in pursuit of more profit.
Malawi police have also been searching vehicles on roads that lead to the borders. The size of the trucks stopped by the police suggests that large-scale traders may be involved.
“Over a period of two days, we impounded 26 trucks loaded with white maize as they were heading to Chitipa (a district bordering Zambia and Tanzania),” said Enock Livasoni, a police spokesman in Karonga district, which borders Tanzania. (RTRS)