Klojen, MC – During his working visit to Malang City, Wednesday (23/11), Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson took the time to visit the Great Jami Mosque in Malang City. In one of the rooms of the mosque, Paul discussed with kiai, community leaders, religious leaders and Forkopimda (Regional Leadership Coordination Forum_ed).
In the topic of discussion, Paul also discussed religious harmony and invited Muslims to prevent and overcome the problem of terrorism. According to him, there are many students and people (Muslims) from Indonesia who live in Australia. "So far, the Australian government has accepted all Indonesian citizens with open arms and treated them the same as citizens of other countries," he said.
He added that in Australia, although the Muslim population is relatively small, they live side by side comfortably, and there is a special community among them. "All of that is one proof that it is not true if there are parties who say that the relationship between Indonesia and Australia is not good," he explained.
"The student exchange cooperation between the two countries has been running for 25 years, and this good cooperation should be maintained together so that it continues in the future. We have even programmed cooperation to exchange mosque administrators or religious figures, so that this cooperation will be even better," added Paul.
Likewise regarding terrorism, this bespectacled man invited Muslims to cooperate in preventing and resolving the problem. "Indonesia, whose citizens are mostly Muslim, certainly does not want any conflict. So far, what I know is that Indonesian citizens live in harmony and tolerance," continued Paul.
"In Australia, the problem of violence or terrorism is an exceptional or unusual issue, and always gets special attention. How can this war problem be reduced to a minimum, and even if possible, there is none. We all want to live in peace with all religions," Paul explained.
The same thing was also conveyed by the Head of Takmir of the Great Jami Mosque, KH Zainudin who said that Muslims, especially those in Malang, always live in harmony and do not want any division. "We welcome the arrival of the Australian ambassador (to Indonesia), so that the good relationship that has been established so far can be maintained," he said. (say/yon)
