DIN : OBAMA WANTS TO BUILD GOOD RELATIONS WITH ISLAM

Blitar, March 15 (ANTARA) - An Islamic leader said US President Barack Obama's visit to the country later this month is positive because he wants to build better relations with Islam.

"We can hold a dialogue during the visit. I believe with a dialogue he could develop better relationship especially with the Islamic world," Din Sjamsuddin, the chief of Muhammadiyah organization, said at the launching of a farming program in Siraman, Blitar, East Java, on Monday.

In view of that he said President Obama's visit must not be made a problem nor rejected and the Islamic community in particular must welcome him as a guest.

"According to Islamic teachings welcoming a guest is a good deed. Therefore Obama's arrival must be welcome and accepted like other presidents of other countries," he said.

Din said he believed President Obama with the planned visit wished to meet part of his election campaign namely to build better relationship with the Islamic world.

He deplored the stance of several organizations to reject Obama's visit.

"I hope people would respect and accept the US President. Moreover, Obama also has emotional relationship with Indonesia as he once attended an elementary school in Jakarta," he said.

While in Indonesia, President Obama is scheduled to also meet and hold discussions with leaders of Islamic groups including chief of the Al Mukmin boarding school in Sukoharjo, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

In the past few days activists from Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and Campus Propagation Institute in several regions in the country have held demonstrations to protest his visit.

They think Obama does not deserve a welcome because he leads a country that has so far oppressed Moslems in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan while his policy on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan is also not different from that of former president George Bush.