The Straits Times Saturday, October 8, 2005 Commentary
BALI BLASTS II Dealing with Hardliners - The Kid Gloves Must Come Off By John McBeth Senior Writer JAKARTA - FOR those worried about Indonesia transforming itself into an Islamic state, ruminate on this eye-opening fact: in 169 direct local elections held so far this year for governors, district chiefs and mayors, only 11 successful candidates came from exclusively Muslim-based parties. What all this seems to suggest is that, at grassroots level across the country, religion plays an even smaller role in the country's political life than was apparent during last year's parliamentary elections. So, in the wake of yet another cynically-inspired bombing on the predominantly Hindu island of Bali, why is the government abrogating its responsibility as the guardian of the Constitution and allowing hard-line Islamic groups to nibble away at the edges of Indonesia's secular society? Sadly, critics say President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessors appear to have decided it is politically incorrect to take a stance on anything that is deemed to be religious - something which can only encourage those who believe in violence to further their cause. > To be sure, Dr Yudhoyono has taken a tougher line than his predecessors on > terrorism, quietly bringing in the military earlier this year to join the > hunt for fugitive bomb-makers Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top. He has > also encouraged closer ties with American and Australian law enforcement > agencies in providing specialised training and expertise for the Indonesian > police who, despite their unenviable reputation for corruption, have done > admirably well in taking down much of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist structure. But the retired general has not been alone in treating other, more accepted hard-line groups with kid gloves. Former president Abdurrahman Wahid an avowed pluralist - was unable to prevent thousands of Lasker Jihad militiamen from inflaming bloody religious violence in Maluku in 1999. And his successor, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, adopted a similarly hands-off approach to a home-grown problem which has not received the priority experts feel is necessary to get at its roots. In a country which regularly prosecutes people for insulting the president or deviating from the accepted norms of Islamic teachings, law enforcement agencies have never used Article 55 of the Criminal Code, which prescribes jail time for inciting violence. For this reason, Muslim clerics preaching hatred against other religions to malleable, uneducated and jobless youths the potential foot soldiers and suicide bombers for radical groups remain immune from prosecution. While recent enforced church closures are a troubling sign for minority Christians, the real battle in Indonesia is for the heart of Islam itself. Born out of the very freedoms that have attended Indonesia's rapid progress towards democracy, it pits Islamic conservatives, who believe in their own literal meaning of the Quran, against more liberal Muslims who feel the Muslim holy book should be open to modern-day interpretations. The People's Consultative Assembly's (MPR) overwhelming rejection of syariah (Islamic law) in 2001 effectively marked the end of the Islamic state issue on the national political stage. But in the four years since then, hard-line groups have adopted what Muslim intellectual Syafi'i Anwar, executive director of the International Centre for Islam and Pluralism, calls a strategy of 'creeping syariah-isation'. At the provincial and district level, a disturbing number of public officials - either through religious conviction, political opportunism, or plain pressure - have unilaterally adopted elements of syariah. Paradoxically, the Muslim-orientated Prosperity and Justice Party (PKS), the Crescent Star Party (PBB) and the long-established United Development Party (PPP) have so far won only 6.5 per cent of nationwide local elections in places as far-flung as West and South Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Maluku. In the Muslim heartland of Java, only two positions went to Islamic candidates in the Jakarta suburb of Depok (PKS) and in the East Java district of Situbondo (PPP). The government's failure to take on the hardliners stems from the fear of a Muslim backlash and accusations that it is pandering to the wishes of Western nations, whose involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to feed popular perceptions that Islam is under attack. But given the clear lack of an electoral dimension to Islamic militancy, and the mounting death toll among Indonesians, it is difficult to understand what would be lost if the government took a firmer line. Dr Yudhoyono, for his part, may be particularly concerned about the reaction of PKS and PBB, which provide an inclusive Islamic flavouring to his ruling coalition. 'The government is more concerned about its popularity than enforcing law and order,' says Professor Azyumardi Azra, rector of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. 'I think SBY (Dr Yudhoyono) believes that if he acts too harshly against the radicals, he will hurt the feelings of certain Muslims.' The head-in-the-sand attitude that continues to pervade the terrorist debate was perfectly demonstrated by PKS leader Hidayat Nur Wahid, current chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly. After initially suggesting that tourist competition rather than jihadist terrorism was behind the latest blasts, he then sought to portray the bombers s 'atheists'. That is not what Prof Azyumardi wants to hear. 'Muslim leaders should admit there are problems among Muslims,' he said. 'There are Muslims who have a wrong understanding of Islam, but you can't call them atheists - that's simply a method of disengagement.' What brought intra-Muslim tensions to the surface were mob attacks earlier this year on the houses and mosques of Ahmadiyah, a small Islamic sect which recognises its founder - and not Muhammad - as Islam's last prophet. But, by far the most startling development came on July 29, when the conservative-dominated Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued 11 fatwas, which among other things outlawed Ahmadiyah as 'deviant' and condemned 'liberalism, secularism and pluralism' - three pillars of modern Indonesian society. The irony about the MUI is that it was created by former president Suharto in the early 1970s to dilute the authority of the country's two largest mass Muslim organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which currently have about 60 million members. The fact that it still survives, when other outmoded institutions of the New Order have long since disappeared, probably tells a lot about how it has become an important vehicle for hard-line aspirations. Officials point out that the edicts have no force in law, but that is hardly the point. Since July 29, an alliance of Muslim vigilante groups, the Anti-Apostasy Movement, has stepped up a campaign of harassment against Ahmadiyah and informal prayer groups and churches - in many cases with the connivance of local authorities. 'It should be made clear to local officials that this is not in line with the Constitution or the nature of the Indonesian state,' says Prof Azyumardi, who is critical of the government's failure to reach out to moderate mainstream Muslim leaders. One thing seems clear: As long as the government elects to stay on the sidelines, the vast majority of people who continue to believe in Indonesia's future as a dynamic secular state will have that faith tested. This is not about religious turmoil going on around other parts of the world. It is solely about Indonesia. sidebar: HEAD-IN-THE-SAND ATTITUDE 'Muslim leaders should admit there are problems among Muslims. There are Muslims who have a wrong understanding of Islam, but you can't call them atheists - that's simply a method of disengagement.' -- PROF AZYUMARDI AZRA, rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Click here to rescue a little child from a life of poverty. http://us.click.yahoo.com/rAWabB/gYnLAA/i1hLAA/aYWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Milis Wanita Muslimah Membangun citra wanita muslimah dalam diri, keluarga, maupun masyarakat. 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