freedom of religion, your land or their land

Indonesia students grill Blair
31 march 2006, Egyptian Gazette

JAKARTA British Prime Minister Tony Blair got a taste of the depth of Muslim opposition to his policies on Iraq yesterday when he was subjected to tough questioning by teenage students in Indonesia.

Sweeping away the diplomatic niceties of their elders, students at Darunnajah Islamic boarding school in Jakarta made clear their opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq and asked Blair searching questions about the Middle East, freedom of religion and the right of students in Britain to wear Muslim dress.

"That's a very, very difficult issue," Reuters quoted Blair as he wrestled with a question from one girl about whether female Muslim students in Britain could wear headscarves at school.

The student brought up the case of a British girl who recently lost a legal battle to be allowed to wear full Islamic dress at school.

"We leave it up to the individual school. Some schools permit this, some schools do not ... There are different views in my country about this," Blair said.

The school visit was part of Blair's packed agenda during his 24-hour visit to Indonesia, the first to the most populous Muslim country by a British prime minister in 21 years.

The questions for Blair from the Muslim students, sitting on a platform with the boys on the left and girls wearing scarves on the right, only got harder.