{"id":1305,"date":"2019-12-22T00:21:37","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T15:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/?p=1305"},"modified":"2019-12-22T00:21:37","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T15:21:37","slug":"indonesian-muslim-groups-urge-china-to-stop-violating-uyghur-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yuzb.net\/en\/2019\/12\/22\/indonesian-muslim-groups-urge-china-to-stop-violating-uyghur-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesian Muslim Groups Urge China to Stop Violating Uyghur Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2019-12-16<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indonesia\u2019s two largest Muslim organizations called on China on Monday to end human rights violations against the Uyghur minority, in a departure from their previous muted stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The call by Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) came almost two months after the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia met with leaders of the two powerful groups and urged them to speak out about the mass incarceration of Uyghur Muslims at internment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government of China should stop all violations of human rights, especially against the Uyghur community, under whatever pretext,\u201d Muhammadiyah, which claims some 30 million members, said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is believed to have locked up an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps since April 2017 amid a government crackdown on Islamic extremism in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing denies any allegations of mistreatment of Uyghurs and says the camps provide vocational training. It has refused to allow international observers into the camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe urge the government of China to be more open in providing information and access to the international community about its policy on the Uyghur community in Xinjiang,\u201d Muhammadiyah said in the statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s comments followed a U.S. newspaper report last week that Beijing had launched a \u201cconcerted campaign\u201d to convince Indonesia\u2019s religious authorities and journalists that the internment camps in Xinjiang were a \u201cwell-meaning effort\u201d to provide job training and combat extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views in Indonesia about the camps had changed after more than a dozen top Indonesian religious leaders visited the so-called re-education facilities, according to the Wall Street Journa<\/em>l report. Donations and other financial support from Beijing had also helped blunt criticism of its treatment of Uyghurs, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article linked the silence of Muslim groups on the Uyghur issue to China\u2019s charm offensive, in which Beijing allegedly courted clerics, politicians and journalists to support its policies in Xinjiang by offering Chinese government-sponsored trips to the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhammadiyah, however, questioned the accuracy of the news report without being specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NU deputy chairman Robikin Emhas, who was among a group of Indonesian Muslim leaders who visited Xinjiang at the invitation of the Chinese government in February, said \u201cthere were problems\u201d in Beijing\u2019s treatment of the Uyghurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReligious people can only practice their religion privately. In public they cannot practice their religion,\u201d Robikin told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also said that Muslims consumed non-halal food and could not pray in camps where the Chinese government said they received vocational training to lure them away from extremism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe appeal for the provision of halal food to be guaranteed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also [urge Beijing] that [the Uyghurs] be allowed to practice their religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhammadiyah, in its statement, also urged Indonesia \u2013 the world\u2019s most-populous Muslim-majority country \u2013 to take a stronger stance on abuses against the Uyghurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government of Indonesia should be more active in its role as a member of the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) and a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to muster diplomacy toward ending human rights violations in Xinjiang and several other countries,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, NU deputy secretary general Masduki Baidlawi also clarified that his group\u2019s stance on the Uyghurs was not linked to any financial incentives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A change in stance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The criticism of Beijing by Muhammadiyah and NU marked a turnaround from their earlier stance on the Uyghur internment camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After separate meetings in October with Joseph Donovan, the U.S. envoy, Muhammadiyah and NU leaders said they were still analyzing China\u2019s treatment of Uyghurs to verify whether rights abuses were taking place in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there are human rights violations, we will make our voice heard, but if it\u2019s a political issue and they want to be independent, it\u2019s an internal affair [of China],\u201d NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are still collecting information. Our team and the government will analyze the information,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, the NU chairman said he had visited Xinjiang in 2016 but did not notice Muslims being persecuted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIslam is growing well in China. The government there is paying attention to Muslims by renovating mosques and hundreds of halal restaurants have been opened,\u201d CNN Indonesia quoted Said as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four months earlier, Muhammadiyah secretary Agung Danarto had also denied the existence of internment camps in Xinjiang.

\u201cPlaces, camps, dorms and classrooms were very comfortable and decent, and look nothing like prisons,\u201d Agung said in a statement posted on the organization\u2019s website in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign ministry criticized<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, Muhyiddin Junaidi, the head of international cooperation at the Indonesian Council of Ulema, a semi-official body of theologians, criticized the Foreign Ministry for its perceived silence on China\u2019s treatment of the Uyghurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems that we are too mindful of China\u2019s feelings because they are one of the biggest foreign investors. Maybe the government is worried that investors will leave if we speak out,\u201d Muhyiddin told BenarNews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhyiddin, who led a delegation that visited Xinjiang in February, said his group was not allowed to talk freely to locals during the tour of what he described as a vocational training center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Chinese government insists the Uyghurs are terrorists, radicals and separatists, but we should not make sweeping generalizations like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have different definitions. If you wear a headscarf in public, you are radical. It\u2019s a violation of human rights but according to China it\u2019s not because it\u2019s in their constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhyiddin said the group did not witness a detention camp during the visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut looking at the activities and policies, I can see that there\u2019s a lot of persecution carried out by China against the Uyghur people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No \u2018megaphone diplomacy,\u2019 foreign ministry spokesman says<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Indonesia did not engage in \u201cmegaphone diplomacy\u201d with China over the Uyghur issue but had made its stance known by summoning the Chinese ambassador in Jakarta for clarification earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do things behind the scenes, engage in constructive discussions with friend countries, with nothing in mind but trying to find common views. If we talk too much publicly there will be a deficit of trust, so it\u2019s more harmful,\u201d he told BenarNews last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report in June by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) had said Indonesia was reluctant to speak out on the Uyghur issue because the nation rejected interfering in China\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Indonesian government by and large sees the Uyghur crackdown as a legitimate response to separatism, and it will no more interfere in China\u2019s \u2018domestic affairs\u2019 than it would accept Chinese suggestions for how it should deal with Papua,\u201d IPAC said, referring to a long-running conflict in far eastern Indonesia, for which Jakarta has been repeatedly accused of committing rights abuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that China is Indonesia\u2019s largest trading partner and second largest investor adds to its reluctance to speak out, IPAC said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Beijing initially denied the existence of internment camps, China has tried to change the discussion, describing the facilities as \u201cboarding schools\u201d that provide vocational training for Uyghurs, discourage radicalization and help protect the country from terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting by RFA’s Uyghur Service and other media organizations, however, has shown that those in the camps are detained against their will. They are also subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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