JAKARTA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's recent speech in Cairo indicated the American leader's good intentions toward Islam universally, Indonesian Muslim clerics said here on Friday.

    "I think President Obama's speech had a positive meaning. However, we hope it will not become a mere slogan but be followed up in concrete terms," the Antara News Agency quoted KH Salahuddin Wahid, an Indonesian influential cleric, here as saying.

    President Obama's speech at Cairo University was broadcasted live across the country by an Indonesian TV station on Thursday afternoon.

    Salahuddin who is the leader of an Islamic boarding school in Jombang, East Java, said Obama, through his speech addressed to more than one billion Muslims in the world, intended to build a coalition with Muslim governments to revive talks particularly toward peace in the Middle East.

    "His intention was good and therefore as the world's biggest Muslim population we must have hope that the prospects for peace in the Islamic world particularly in the Middle East will improve," Salahuddin said.

    Meanwhile, responding to the U.S. president's speech, Amidhan, a senior official at Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) appreciated it, saying that it shows President Obama's determination to find a solution to the world's problems, particularly in the Middle East.

    Amidhan said Obama was more progressive and creative than his predecessor in responding and seeking a good solution to the problem.

    He believed that President Obama's speech was not rhetorical. It had been Obama's agenda he already voiced when was campaigning for U.S. president, he added.

    "I think President Obama has a good and honest will to change the image of his country," Amidhan said.

    He also believed that Obama prefers to take negotiations in settling U.S-Middle East relationship problems and would try to revive peace talks between Palestine and Israel.