President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday concluded his working visit to Istanbul, Turkey, and left for Jidda in Saudi Arabia, to perform the lesser pilgrimage in Mecca (Umroh).
The President and the First Lady and an entourage will be leaving for Istanbul on Thursday at 10 am, or 2 pm in Jakarta.
The President planned to perform the lesser pilgrimage in Madina from July 1 to July 3, 2010.
The President will also hold a teleconference on the opening of the Muhammadiyah conference.

The South Jakarta District Court has sentenced Mohamad Jibril to five years in jail for his alleged role in the suicide bombing attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in July last year.

Religious tolerance and freedom is the fundamental pillar of our society. The nation’s founding ideology, Pancasila, is centered around the freedom to worship and to believe in one’s God.

It is against this backdrop that recent developments in Bekasi are profoundly disturbing. Over the past few months, hard-line Islamic groups have sought to impose their will on the residents and dictate what is acceptable and what is not.

The Indonesian Council of Ulema say they have reminded the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front not to resort to violence and intimidation but say they have no authority to take action against such groups.
Amidhan, chairman of the council, also known as MUI, said they had committed to being a “big tent.”

Luthfi Assyaukanie

For many, to study Islam means going to an Islamic institution. That’s why some Indonesian students go to the Middle East or to local Islamic higher learning institutions such as the State Islamic University (UIN) in Jakarta or Yogyakarta.
This idea is partly justified if your understanding of the word “study” is to convert to a certain understanding of Islam. But it’s certainly incorrect if by “study” you mean to explore knowledge.

The preaching thinking as an inviting process that must be success makes the preaching practice become coarse and full of force exercised, whereas Islam is peace religion and demand the Muslim’s patient. To be patient in preaching is easy to be said, but difficult in practice. However it doesn’t mean da’I should be stagnant in preaching. For that reason, patient in preaching should be realized and become priority.

A lawmaker on Wednesday accused the security forces of secretly supporting Islamist vigilantes as a kind of paramilitary force to intimidate opponents and commercial rivals.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari said extremist vigilantes known for violent attacks on bars, minorities and human rights advocates had direct links to military and police generals.

“The organization is now part of the conflict management strategy the Indonesian military exercises to maintain its power,” she told AFP, referring to the stick-wielding fanatics known as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).

Conflict and violence ever occurred almost in all the nations in the world, including Indonesia. Most of them are triggered by injustice. Bad system in financial distribution has created some conflicts. The involvement of the social organization, which is bring the religion’s doctrine make the situation getting more complicated. How to minimize the conflict? Here is the dialog between Firman Syah from CMM with Mr. Bambang Pranowo the professor of Islamic State University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta: