JAKARTA, April 12: British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday held up Indonesia as a model for nations in transition after the Arab Spring, praising its moderate Islam and its transformation from dictatorship.

He said democracy must not be undermined in the name of Islam in Egypt, and called on the world to oppose Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

“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,” Mr 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.

“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.”

Mr Cameron said Indonesia’s rapid transition ‘gives heart’ to Muslim nations seeking democracy, such as Egypt.

He said the success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt’s parliamentary elections must not risk undermining democracy. He also said that the world must oppose the Assad’s regime as a UN-backed ceasefire came into effect to end 13 months of bloodshed in Syria.—Agencies