Indonesian leader warns Islamic radicalism rising

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Indonesian's President on Thursday warned that the world's most populous Muslim-majority country was confronting a rising tide of Islamic radicalism, after a spate of hate crimes and bombings.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the sprawling archipelago's cherished reputation for tolerance and pluralism was under attack by extremists bent on turning the nation of 240 million people into an Islamic state.

The country — praised by US President Barack Obama in November as a "model" of tolerance for the world — has been shaken by bloody assaults on religious minorities and persistent attacks by homegrown terror groups.

"I have witnessed that there has been a radicalisation movement in this nation with religious and ideological motives," Yudhoyono said in a speech at a national development conference in Jakarta.

"If we continue to let this happen, it will threaten the character of our nation and our people."

He said radical extremists, who make up a small but very vocal section of Indonesia's 200 million Muslims, were encouraging young Indonesians to "love violence" and reject the law of the diverse country.

"In the long term. If it continues, it will change the character of our communities which are tolerant and love harmony and peace.

"It must not happen, we should not be passive. We have to take responsibility to save this nation and save its people and its future."

Thirty people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque at a police compound during on Friday prayers in Cirebon, West Java, earlier in April.

The police also foiled a plot to blow up a church in Jakarta over Easter, after a detainee told them the whereabouts of five bombs.

Indonesia has won praise for rounding up hundreds of Islamist militants since it became a key battlefield in the "war on terror" in 2002 when local radicals detonated bombs on Bali island, killing 202 people, mainly Westerners.

But analysts say religious intolerance has been growing during Yudhoyono's rule and blame the authorities for tolerating and even cooperating with hardline elements who advocate Taliban-style Islamic laws.

Yudhoyono has allied himself with conservative Muslims in the government and rarely speaks out against extremist violence, which often goes unpunished.

Extremists convicted of serious crimes under the anti-terror law frequently receive lenient sentences and are allowed to preach jihad or "holy war" to other inmates in prison.