Indonesian Disappointment

Indonesia bars professor from Islam conference

Jakarta (27 November) - The Indonesian authorities have stopped Islamic scholar Nasr Abu Zayd of Leiden University from speaking at an international conference in East Java. Professor Zayd had been invited to speak at an academic conference on Islam that began today.

According to a report in Dutch daily AD, shortly before the conference the academic received a text message asking him to cancel his lecture, at the request of the Indonesian Ministry of Religion. The ministry feared massive unrest, after being inundated with threats from radical Muslims who see the liberal Islamic scholar as a traitor to Islam.

Professor Zayd criticised the ministry's response as unacceptable and says the Indonesian government is speaking the language of the fundamentalists who can now hide behind the government's decision with impunity.