Efforrts to stigmatize Islam as extremism<\/p>\n
By Adian Husaini<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The editorial of The Jakarta Post on Jan. 8,
\n2001, entitled \"Soldiers of fortune\", referred to a police
\nstatement about the involvement of the \"Afghan militia\" in the
\nrecent Christmas Eve bombing.<\/p>\n
The editorial went on to say that the young Asian Muslims,
\nfrom Indonesia and the Philippines, who took part in the Afghan
\nWar were recruited by the CIA in the context of the American Cold
\nWar against the Soviet Union. That they were also mercenaries.<\/p>\n
The editorial said, \"Mercenaries by definition are foreign
\nsoldiers hired to fight a war on behalf of their sponsors. This
\nwas the nature of the participation of the Indonesian volunteers
\nin the Afghan war.\"<\/p>\n
The editorial was but an attempt to exploit the myth of the
\n\"terrorism\" of the Afghan mujahideens.<\/p>\n
The mujahideens of Afghan, coming from various countries and
\ntaking part in the war against the Soviet Union in the 1970s,
\nperformed a noble deed. They went there to help their brethren
\nfight communist troops of the Soviet Union who were equipped with
\nsophisticated weaponry.<\/p>\n
Calling the mujahideens \"mercenaries\" is an insult and
\noffense.<\/p>\n
The editorial went on to ask that the identities of the Afghan
\nmilitia be revealed, because with their skills, discipline and
\nexperience, they had the potential to launch unrest here.<\/p>\n
By its editorial, The Jakarta Post has slapped a stigma on the
\nIndonesian mujahideens to Afghanistan. The newspaper, by
\ndemanding that their identities be disclosed, has judged that the
\nbombing perpetrators were Indonesians who fought in the Afghan
\nwar.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 5, police detective chief Inspector General Engkesman
\nR. Hillep at the National Police stated that among those involved
\nin the bombing in Bandung some have admitted to being members of
\nthe Afghan militia. The police also stated that the suspects were
\nmembers of the militia during 1990-1992.<\/p>\n
The police, through a statement by police spokesman Saleh
\nSaaf, later clarified and said the correct term was \"Afghanistan
\nvolunteers.\" The term \"militia\" connotes an orderly and organized
\ngroup.<\/p>\n
Even this clarification was still vague, so much so that only
\na few publications highlighted the police allegation that the
\nAfghan militia were suspected of the bombings.<\/p>\n
There are several points that beg further explanation. Police
\nclaimed the suspects admitted to being in Afghan in 1990-1992,
\nwhen the fact was that at the time the Soviet Union had been
\nexpelled from Afghan.<\/p>\n
In addition, the police statement was one-sided and the public
\nwas not given any opportunity to confirm it. The public, too,
\nstill remembers how officials and members of the Indonesian Forum
\nfor Peace (FID) have given various statements about the bombing
\nsuspects. Some have linked the violence with former military
\nofficers of the New Order, others with enemies of President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid, and so on.<\/p>\n
Finally, the police statement was also premature and has yet
\nagain stigmatized certain Muslim groups, in this case the former
\nfighters of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
The police should have avoided this \"stigmatizing\" by
\nrefraining from giving out the social, communal identities of the
\nsuspects or their ethnicity. Police do not need to say, for
\ninstance, that the suspects are people of Batak origins, members
\nof Golkar or activists of certain mosques.<\/p>\n
Stigmatizing is something the New Order often resorted to in
\nits earlier years. In the 1970s, for instance, the regime
\nshackled mosque-based youth activism by infiltrating their ranks,
\nseducing them into extremism and violence and ultimately creating
\nthe image that mosque activists were terrorists. This image
\neffectively stifled the growth of mosque-based youth activities.<\/p>\n
The same infiltration and stigmatization was launched again to
\nstifle the influential Dewan Mahasiswa (University Students
\nCouncil). Whether the same campaign was operating in the context
\nof the Christmas Eve bombings has yet to be clarified, but the
\nneed is obvious for everybody to exercise self-restraint and
\nrefrain from arbitrary condemnation of any party.<\/p>\n
The media, too, should exercise the same restraint and refrain
\nfrom cultivating suspicions in sensitive cases such as the
\nbombings.<\/p>\n
Because, the Muslim community, too--tired of being stigmatized
\nfor decades--can have their own suspicions that the bombings were
\ncarried out by extremists of another religion seeking not only to
\nfurther stigmatize Muslims but also to invite public (both
\ndomestic and international) sympathy.<\/p>\n
Creating the image of an oppressed group is something that
\nIsrael Zionist leaders usually did par excellence. The Zionist
\nleaders allowed the massacre of Jews in Europe to create the
\nimage of an oppressed group, which benefited in the long run.<\/p>\n
In his book, A Hidden History of Zionism, Ralph Schoenman
\nrevealed evidence of collaboration between Zionist leaders and
\nNazi leaders. The Zionist leaders deliberately let the holocaust,
\nthe massacre of 6 million German Jews, take place, and used the
\ntragedy as their eternal campaign to elicit world sympathy. They
\nused the campaign to slaughter and massacre the Palestinians, and
\ntake over their land.<\/p>\n
Many of the Indonesian Muslim activists remember vividly how
\nsome military leaders in the past skillfully engineered
\nstigmatization and the creation of situations where Muslims were
\nmarginalized and treated as extremists.<\/p>\n
Given this history, it is understandable that they now
\nquestion whether the various recent incidents -- which again
\nstigmatized Muslims -- were yet another campaign by a certain
\nparty to marginalize Muslims.<\/p>\n
Is it possible the bombings of the churches was part of a
\ncampaign to stigmatize Muslims? Wallahu a'lam (only Allah knows),
\nbut in such an uncertain situation it would be better if all
\nparties waited until everything is clear before launching attacks
\nindiscriminately.<\/p>\n
It would be a pity if The Jakarta Post became part of the
\nconspiracy to stigmatize Islam.<\/p>\n
The writer is secretary of KISDI (Indonesian Committee for
\nWorld Muslims' Solidarity).<\/p>",
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