09 November 2010

Obama Reaches Out to Muslim World

President Obama, left, held private talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — President Obama, acknowledging that relations between the United States and Muslim communities around the world have been frayed over many years by mistrust and suspicion, says that since becoming president, he has worked to repair those relations and create a path to move beyond differences.

“We can choose to be defined by our differences, and give in to a future of suspicion and mistrust,” Obama said. “Or we can choose to do the hard work of forging common ground, and commit ourselves to the steady pursuit of progress.”

And no matter what setbacks may come, the United States is committed to human progress, Obama added.

Obama addressed Muslim communities across the globe during a speech November 10 at the University of Indonesia in Depok before heading to South Korea, the third stop of his four-nation visit to Asia, to attend the Group of 20 (G20) summit of advanced economies in Seoul. Indonesia will also attend the G20 summit.

The president visited India before arriving November 9 in Jakarta. He is also visiting Japan on his last stop before returning to Washington. He was forced to leave Indonesia a little earlier than planned because of the volcanic ash spewing from Mount Merapi. Two previous trips to Indonesia were postponed because of events in Washington and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In his speech, Obama cited Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, as a fast-developing democracy and a tolerant nation. Before his speech, he met privately with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta.

The president’s speech was intended to echo his address to Muslim audiences in June 2009 in Cairo, in which he said that no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust. He acknowledged in Depok that while progress is being made in improving relations, many of the issues that have caused tensions for many years remain to be addressed.

Innocent deaths in the United States, Indonesia and across the world caused by violent extremism are still an ever-present problem, he said. But he repeated his Cairo pledge that the United States “is not, and never will be, at war with Islam,” though extremists have often tried to drive that wedge between the United States and Muslims everywhere.

The violent extremism represented by al-Qaida and its affiliates must be defeated, Obama said. Those who want to build peaceful societies that are prosperous and free must not cede ground to the extremists who seek to destroy progress, he added.

The task of defeating extremism in all its forms is not a task for the United States alone, he said. He cited the progress made in Indonesia in rooting out extremists and combating their violence while building a modern nation.

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost the United States support and trust by many in the global Muslim community, but Obama said there is progress and reason to renew that trust. The work continues, Obama said, in building the capacity of the Afghan government to secure its future. And significant progress has been made in ending the war in Iraq as the Iraqis now have taken full responsibility for their security, he said.

And while there have been many false starts and setbacks to the Middle East peace process, the United States has been persistent in the pursuit of peace and for a solution that has two nations living in peace, side by side, Obama said.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)