Alwi Shihab's 'killer nations'

Alwi Shihab's 'killer nations'

I was greatly astounded by the remark of our Minister of
Foreign Affairs Dr. Alwi Shihab, regarding the controversy of an
international tribunal for Indonesian generals who allegedly
conducted war crimes. His remarks, as quoted in Republika daily
on Dec. 8, contained two dangerously misleading, flawed ideas.

He was quoted as saying that if the international tribunal for
the generals was conducted, Indonesia would be placed on a par
with countries like Rwanda and Kosovo, which have been labeled as
"killer nations".

What a belligerently harsh statement. Anyone with sufficient
knowledge would easily discern that the term should not be
designated to a nation's people, but rather to a few blood-
thirsty individuals from a particular institution. I do not
believe they are all killers.

I was wondering if Dr. Alwi, a top scholar of Islam, still
remembers a basic teaching of the religion: that all human beings
(including Jews, of course) are fundamentally hanif, or tend to
lead themselves in the direction of goodness.

Second, Dr. Alwi evidently equates the alleged generals as
representatives of Indonesian people (by the way, has he
consulted the House of Representatives about what constitutes
"representativeness"?). Thus in his view, defending alleged
generals from international tribunals for the violation of human
rights means defending the people's interests. How fine is your
reasoning, Dr. Alwi!

MUKTI

Jakarta