New Delhi: When Indonesia summoned the Indian ambassador last month, it was not express concerns from Jakarta, but only to convey the concerns of domestic civil society organisations over the Delhi riots, sources said on Monday.
At the end of the week that riots occurred in north-east Delhi, Indonesia foreign ministry had summoned the Indian ambassador, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, “to discuss the riots that have claimed dozens of lives”.
Since then, there have been regular protests by various groups outside the Indian embassy in Jakarta and the consulate in Medan.
Sources explained that the Indian ambassador was not summoned to get a dressing down from the foreign ministry, but rather to convey the concerns from Indonesian civil society groups.
“Civil society organisations and many other organisations had a message and those messages were conveyed to the Indian government,” they said on Monday.
It was suggested that while civil society groups had “concerns”, the Indonesian government was “confident that we are both pluralistic, democratic countries”.
The Indonesian foreign ministry press note on the summoning of the Indian ambassador had similarly expressed “complete confidence” that Indian government will manage harmonious relations between its religious communities.
“Moreover, both countries share similar characteristics, as pluralistic countries that uphold democratic values and tolerance,” said the Indonesian foreign ministry, as quoted in the Jakarta Post.
Till now, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has not spoken publicly about the summoning of the Indian envoy.
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Meanwhile, Indonesian police have taken strong measures for the security of the Indian diplomatic facilities, even though the protests may be petering out in the coming weeks.
Last week, at least two Indian tv channels reported, citing “intelligence sources” that an Indonesian NGO, Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT) had funded the Delhi riots.
The Jakarta Post reported on Sunday that ACT issued a strong denial of this allegations.
ACT supervisory council member Syuhelmaidi Syukur asserted in a statement that it was a humanitarian organisation, which has been providing humanitarian aid to India since 2017.
Syukur noted that ACT has “delivered emergency supplies, such as clothing, food, water, medicine and financial aid” to victims of the Delhi riots, that is, after the violence had already taken place.
“The ACT, he went on to say, had reported its program’s implementation through various media, including social and mass media. The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) had also awarded it the highest audit grade of “unqualified opinion” for 14 years straight,” said the Post report.
Indonesia has largely kept away from criticising India for any of the steps taken by the government, from Kashmir to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Incidentally, Indonesia, as the president of United Nations Security Council 1267 committee, had been instrumental in the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar as a global terrorist last year.