Indonesia Condemns The Burning Of The Qur'an In Sweden And Denmark

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Indonesia strongly condemns the burning and destroying of the Koran in Sweden and Denmark, as well as the re-publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by the Charlie Hebdo tabloid in France which are considered as religious-based blasphemy.

"This action is irresponsible, provocative, and has injured hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world," said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi as quoted by Antara, Saturday, September 5.

All of these actions are also considered contrary to democratic principles and values, and have the potential to cause divisions between religious communities, at a time when the world needs unity to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the end of August, riots broke out in the city of Malmo, southern Sweden, where at least 300 people staged a protest against anti-Islam acts.

Earlier in the day, a copy of the Koran was burned in Malmo City by several far-right extremists.

According to a report by the newspaper Aftonbladet, the anti-Islam protests took place after the leader of Denmark's right-wing political party, Rasmus Paludan, was denied permission to hold a meeting in the city of Malmo and was stopped at the Swedish border.

Not long ago, the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo returned to publish a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad - which sparked outrage by Muslims - to mark the start of trials for the alleged aides in the attack on the magazine's offices in 2015.

One of these caricatures, most of which were first published by Danish newspapers in 2005 and only published by Charlie Hebdo a year later, is a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban resembling a bomb.

For Muslims, any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemy.