[Kabar-indonesia] Support For Suicide Bombings Dropping In Indonesia: Poll [3 articles]

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: New 15-nation poll finds Muslims have broad
differences with Westerners; and Poll shows Muslims in
Britain are the most anti-western in Europe 

Support for suicide bombings dropping in Indonesia:
poll

JAKARTA, June 22 (AP) - A large and growing majority
of Indonesians do not support suicide bombings, but
almost 20 percent of the country's 200 million Muslims
believe such tactics are justified, a survey released
Thursday showed.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project poll also showed
declining support for al-Qaida's leader in Indonesia,
which has more Muslims than any other country but
traditionally has followed a moderate version of the
faith.

The poll findings underscore the Southeast Asian
nation's liberal traditions, but also the attraction
militant Islam holds for a minority in the country as
it battles terrorists blamed for a series of suicide
bombings that have killed more than 240 people since
2002.

The poll showed that 71 percent of Indonesians believe
that "suicide bombing and other forms of violence
against civilian targets" are never justified, up from
66 percent in 2005 and 54 percent in 2002.

But 18 percent of respondents said such tactics were
"often or sometimes" justified.

Similar drops in support for suicide bombings were
also recorded in Jordan and Pakistan, according to the
global poll.

The poll also showed declining support for Osama bin
Laden, with only 4 percent of Indonesians saying they
had a "lot of confidence" in the terror leader, down
from 19 percent in 2002.

Over the last year, politicians and mainstream Islamic
leaders in Indonesia have become more outspoken in
their criticism of extremist Islam, reflecting anger
felt by ordinary Indonesians at attacks that killed
scores of Muslims and hurt Indonesia's image
internationally.

Indonesia is a secular democracy, but conservative
thinking has made inroads since the downfall in 1998
of ex-dictator Suharto, and more recently due to anger
over the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The face-to-face survey of more than 1,022 people
across Indonesia was carried out in April. It had a
margin of error of 3 percentage points, Pew said.

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New 15-nation poll finds Muslims have broad
differences with Westerners

By WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON, June 22 (AP) - Muslims view people from
the West -- especially the United States and Europe --
as selfish, immoral and greedy. People from the U.S.
and Europe view Muslims as arrogant, violent and
intolerant.

The deep divide between Muslims and the West was
clearly illustrated in the findings released Thursday
of a new 15-country poll by the Pew Research Center
for the People & the Press.

A solid majority of most of the 15 countries polled,
both in Europe and in the Mideast, said that relations
between Muslims and Westerners are generally bad.
While 55 percent of people in the United States, felt
that way, two-thirds or more of the people in Germany
and France took a dim view of relations between
Muslims and the West.

And each side points fingers blaming the other.

"In the Western countries, the Muslims are to blame,"
said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research
Center. "In the Muslim countries and among Muslim
minorities in Europe, the Western people are to
blame."

One of the more surprising findings for researchers
was that solid majorities in Indonesia (65 percent),
Turkey (59 percent), Egypt (59 percent) and Jordan (53
percent) said they do not believe the Sept. 11 attacks
on the United States were carried out by groups of
Arabs.

But Muslims' support for terrorism is dropping in some
countries. In Indonesia, Pakistan and especially in
Jordan, there have been declines in the number of
people who say suicide bombings can be justified.

Among the other findings in the polling:

--Anti-Jewish sentiment remains overwhelming in Muslim
countries and strong among Muslims in Germany, Britain
and Spain. But 71 percent of French Muslims have a
positive view of Jews.

--Majorities in the Muslim countries polled say the
victory of Hamas in Palestinian elections will be
helpful to a fair settlement between Israel and the
Palestinians. That position is solidly rejected in the
non-Muslim countries.

--Overwhelming majorities in Muslim countries blame
the controversy over cartoons depicting the Prophet
Muhammad on Western disrespect for the Muslim
religion. Majorities in Western countries tend to
blame Muslim intolerance.

--Spain and Germany have a much stronger antagonism to
Muslims compared to the rest of Europe. Only 29
percent of Spaniards have a favorable view of Muslims
compared to strong majorities in France and Britain.

--Europe's Muslim minorities see relations between
Muslims and the West as bad, but the European Muslims
are more likely to take a positive view of Europeans
than Muslims generally.

"British Muslims were the most radicalized and the
French Muslims were the most temperate," Kohut said.

The polling in 15 countries of samples ranging from
about 900 to 2,000 adults was conducted in April and
May and has a margin of error ranging from 2 to 6
percentage points. The polling included a
proportionately larger sampling of Muslims in the
European countries.

In China, India and Pakistan, the polling was based on
urban samples.

The nations in which polling was conducted were China,
Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia,
Spain, Turkey and the United States.

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The Guardian (UK) 
Friday, June 23, 2006

Poll shows Muslims in Britain are the most
anti-western in Europe 

Attitude resembles public opinion in Islamic nations;
British show greatest mismatch of feelings 

By Julian Borger in Washington

Public opinion in Britain is mostly favourable towards
Muslims, but the feeling is not requited by British
Muslims, who are among the most embittered in the
western world, according to a global poll published
yesterday.

The poll, by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes
Project, asked Muslims and non-Muslims about each
other in 13 countries. In most, it found suspicion and
contempt to be mostly mutual, but uncovered a
significant mismatch in Britain.

The poll found that 63% of all Britons had a
favourable opinion of Muslims, down slightly from 67%
in 2004, suggesting last year's London bombings did
not trigger a significant rise in prejudice. Attitudes
in Britain were more positive than in the US, Germany
and Spain (where the popularity of Muslims has
plummeted to 29%), and about the same as in France.

Less than a third of British non-Muslims said they
viewed Muslims as violent, significantly fewer than
non-Muslims in Spain (60%), Germany (52%), the US
(45%) and France (41%).

By contrast, the poll found that British Muslims
represented a "notable exception" in Europe, with far
more negative views of westerners than Islamic
minorities elsewhere on the continent. A significant
majority viewed western populations as selfish,
arrogant, greedy and immoral. Just over half said
westerners were violent. While the overwhelming
majority of European Muslims said westerners were
respectful of women, fewer than half British Muslims
agreed. Another startling result found that only 32%
of Muslims in Britain had a favourable opinion of
Jews, compared with 71% of French Muslims.

Across the board, Muslim attitudes in Britain more
resembled public opinion in Islamic countries in the
Middle East and Asia than elsewhere in Europe. And on
the whole, British Muslims were more pessimistic than
those in Germany, France and Spain about the
feasibility of living in a modern society while
remaining devout.

The Pew poll found that British Muslims are far more
likely than their European counterparts to harbour
conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks.
Only 17% believed that Arabs were involved, compared
with 48% in France.

There was general agreement that relations are bad,
but Britons as a whole were much less likely than
other Europeans to blame Muslims. More Britons faulted
westerners (27%) than Muslims (25%), with a third
saying both are equally responsible. British Muslims
were less ambivalent. Nearly half blamed westerners.
By comparison, in Germany and France both communities
blamed each other in roughly equal measure.

Unlike the rest of Europe, a majority of Britons
declared themselves sympathetic to Muslims offended by
the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published in the
European press last year. But most Britons said the
outbreak of violence was the result of Muslim
intolerance for western freedom of expression. Only 9%
of British Muslims agreed with that view. Nearly
three-quarters blamed the controversy on western
disrespect of Islam.

While finding ample confirmation of the rift between
Muslims and non-Muslims around the world, the poll did
find some signs of encouragement.

"Confidence in Osama bin Laden has ... fallen in most
Muslim countries in recent years," the survey
concluded. That was particularly true in Jordan, where
24% expressed confidence in the al-Qaida leader,
compared with 60% a year ago.

Support for suicide bombing has also plummeted in
Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia. In Pakistan now, 69%
said the terrorist tactic was never justified,
compared with 38% four years ago.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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