Muslim rhetoric drives wedge between US-Indonesia, says Indonesian cabinet minister

US President Donald Trump had recently retweeted rinflammatory videos from a fringe British political group Wednesday that purported to show violence being committed by Muslims.
(AP Photo)

A top Indonesian Cabinet minister says the Trump administration’s hostile rhetoric toward Islam has left many in the world’s most populous Muslim nation feeling that a wedge has been driven between the U.S. and Indonesia.

Luhut Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs of Indonesia, says in a column written for Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper that the negative sentiment felt in Indonesia will only disappear when it’s clear the US has not abandoned its openness to all faiths.

He says, “Many Indonesians were dismayed by the Trump administration’s hostile rhetoric and intemperate policy stance towards the Muslims of the world.”

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Luhut says Indonesia is the biggest country in Southeast Asia and it’s “unimaginable” the US can have sound security ties with the region without reaching out to Indonesia in particular.