Indonesian ambassador 'unwise' to say PVV voters may be 'psychotic'

Thursday 23 September 2010

PVV leader Geert Wilders has urged the Dutch foreign minister to summon Indonesia’s ambassador to the Netherlands because of his ‘scandalous statements’ about the anti-Islam party and its supporters.

Ambassador Yunus Effendi Habibie says in an interview with Thursday’s Financieele Dagblad that the planned October visit by Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhynono would be ‘very much in doubt’ if the PVV is part of the next coalition government.

‘Of course the president will not come here if there is someone in the cabinet who says Islam is backward. I do not want my president to be seen as a clown’ the ambassador told the paper.

The ambassador went on to say that the relationship between the Netherlands and its former colony would be hurt if Wilders joins the government.

And, he suggested, the people who voted for Wilders could be ‘psychotic’

Unwise

Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen told Nos tv that the ambassador’s words about PVV supporters were ‘unwise’.

‘I did not think it wise how he described the PVV voters,’Verhagen said. ‘An ambassador should not make comments about the electorate.’

Verhagen said he planned to make contact with the ambassador later on Thursday.

Indonesia is the biggest Muslim country in the world. Wilders has repeatedly called for a ban on immigration from Islamic countries.

© DutchNews.nl

Comments have been closed for this article.