An Indonesian Islamic leader rejected Wednesday an invitation to dine with Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States, who seeks to rebuild ties with the Muslim world on her first trip to Indonesia, the official Antara news agency reported.
The snub came as Clinton arrived Wednesday afternoon in the world's most populous Muslim country as part of a four-nation swing through Asia.
But her plans to open a new chapter with the Islamic world as promised by President Barack Obama received an early setback when local Muslim leader Din Syamsuddin, representing some 30 million Muslims, rejected her dinner invite.
"If it's only a dinner without a dialogue it won't be useful," the chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organization, told media here.
He said he would prefer to attend an inter-faith meeting in Australia rather than waste time discussing local delicacies with the new US secretary of state.
"That kind of meeting won't be effective," he said.
U.S. President Obama has promised rapprochement with the Islamic world after the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan under the administration of George W. Bush.
"We have a responsibility to speak out and to work with the Muslim world on behalf of positive change and to enlist the help of Muslims around the world against the extremists," Clinton said earlier.
(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2009)