RADICALISM AND MILITANCY AREN'T NATURE OF INDON MOSLEMS, SAYS ANALYST.

(From Antara - The Indonesian National News Agency)

Canberra, Dec 1 (ANTARA) - A noted Indonesianist of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Prof. Dr. David Reeve, has said that the religious radicalism and militancy as might have been adopted by Imam Samudra and friends is not the nature of the Indonesian Moslem as a whole.

According to David Reeve, Westerners including Australians should not be trapped in wrong perception in judging the latest Islamic developments in Indonesia.

The Westerners should not base their judgement only upon the phenomenal movement of the Imam Samudra who represents only a small minority of Indonesian Moslems, David Reeve said.

In an interview with ANTARA here Saturday afternoon, Prof. David Reeve reiterated the fact that the majority of Indonesian Moslems were moderate believers.

David Reeve pointed out that due to the October 12 Bali bomb blast, the Indonesian image on the part of the international communities including Australians had negatively developed from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, another expert of Indonesian affairs, Prof. Andrian Vickers of the Wollonggong University, pointed out that the Australian people's knowledge about Islam in Indonesia had been obtained only from the mass media which often present inaccurate reports about Indonesian Moslems.