Indonesians campaign to ban ‘Islamophobe’ Trump
JAKARTA: Few villagers living near a halfbuilt golf course in Indonesia’s West Java province know the name Donald Trump, and fewer still are aware that one of his firms will be managing a six-star hotel and luxury resort in their backyard.
But in the capital, Jakarta, a growing number of Indonesians want the US presidential candidate and his businesses banned from the world’s most populous Muslimmajority nation after Trump pledged to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the US if elected.
The anger simmering across the Pacific is a likely preview of the strained relations a Trump presidency could expect not only in Indonesia, but from the rest of the Muslim world. Indonesia, whose more than 200 million Muslims largely practise a moderate form of Islam, has close relations with the US.
Many Indonesians think highly of President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta.
Fadli Zon, the Deputy Speaker of the House, said he would seek restrictions on US trade and investment if Trump became president. The US is Indonesia’s secondlargest export market, worth about $16 billion last year, and is a popular study destination with children of the elite.
An online petition, set up anonymously, is urging Indonesian President Joko Widodo to ban the billionaire and his businesses from the country and has received more than 45 000 signatures.
“Donald Trump doesn’t want Muslims of the world to enter the United States… so we should do the same to him,” signatory Ayu Dyah wrote on the petition website. “Condemn, refuse and boycott every Donald Trump business and his affiliations. We should prove that we have power.”
Trump’s comments on Muslims have already provoked strong reactions elsewhere, with British politicians in January debating barring the real estate tycoon from entering the country, where he also has business interests.
The hostility towards Trump could threaten his company’s expansion efforts into south-east Asia’s largest economy, Indonesian lawmakers and government officials said.
“It’s just that his statement hurts many people in this Muslim-majority country,” Edy Putra Irawady, Indonesia’s deputy chief Economic Minister, said. “Surely it will be a black shadow for his business.”
Representatives for Trump did not respond to requests for comment. – Reuters