Tempo-July 7

Nahdlatul Ulama Secretary-General Yahya Cholil Staquf`s presence at the American Jewish Committee conference for Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, last June, should not have been criticized. What Yahya did was something President Abdurrahman Wahid initiated years ago: offering a different approach to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Yahya’s position as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council is also not something to be held against him. He had been invited to speak at the conference long before he was told he would be serving as President Joko Widodo’s advisor. It was obvious that his attendance is not a reflection of Indonesia’s foreign policies.

Read more at: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/07/07/314919779/Supporting-Yahya-Staqufs-Initiative
First published in: Tempo