Democracy and Islam can flourish together, David Cameron yesterday declared as he gave a landmark speech in Indonesia to tell the Muslim world that it can reject a "dead-end choice" between extremism and dictatorship.
The British prime pinister held up Indonesia as a model for nations in transition after the Arab Spring, praising its moderate Islam and its transformation from dictatorship.
Cameron was in Indonesia on a five-day tour of Asia, focused heavily on trade, and left for Malaysia yesterday morning.
He is scheduled to visit Myanmar today, marking the first visit by a top Western leader since decades of military rule ended last year.
"If Indonesia can succeed, it can lead the world in showing how democracy can offer an alternative to the dead-end choice of dictatorship or extremism," Cameron told students at Jakarta's Al Azhar Islamic university.
He said extremists were trying to turn Islam into a "closed and warped ideology" opposed to democracy.
He urged people not to confuse Islam with extremism.
"What Indonesia shows is that in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, it is possible to reject this extremist threat and prove that democracy and Islam can flourish alongside each other."
Indonesia embarked on democratic reforms in 1998 after the fall of 32-year Suharto dictatorship.
Ahead of his historic visit to Myanmar, Prime Minister David Cameron praised it's moves towards democracy and said the UK stood ready to respond by easing sanctions on the country.
He said events in Burma, including recent multi-party by-elections, were a "bright light".
But he said he wanted to see conditions on the ground for himself to determine whether the change was "irreversible".
Cameron's first visit to Myanmar- which had been controlled for decades by the army - will conclude his week-long tour of east and south-east Asia, which has included stops in Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.