Democracy and violence

Democracy and violence

From Media Indonesia

After the issuance of the second censure from the House of
Representatives, President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's
supporters launched a mass parade to the National Monument
(Monas) square carrying posters that read "If Gus Dur steps down,
blood will flow". The posters were aimed at threatening anti-Gus
Dur groups who happen to be Muslims as well. It was quite awful.
Demokrasi golok (democratically ruled by the sword) will
definitely ruin Indonesia.

A friend asked why people of the same faith waged a war. What
if the nation is composed of multiracial people of different
faiths?

There was something positive that came out of the istighosah
(mass prayer) conducted by the Nahdlatul Ulama members.
Indonesia's multidimensional crisis cannot be solved through
conventional methods but through the miracles of God only. Gus
Dur and his followers compassionately and mercifully "cried" and
prayed for God's help. And we know the phenomena is not political
lip service, but springs from the innermost human feelings.
Nahdlatul Ulama chairman K H Hasyim Muzadi, when interviewed on
whether the mass prayer would invite conflict, asked us to
imagine that the istighosah was for freeing this nation from
those never-ending multidimensional crises held at Arafah desert.
He added that with serious goodwill exercised by all Muslims, the
prayer would be fulfilled by Allah.

But unfortunately the mass prayer was not carried out by all
Muslims. If 50 percent of them prayed for Gus Dur and 50 percent
against him, the result would have been zero. Therefore, the
conflict between pro-Gus Dur and anti-Gus Dur Muslims should be
put to an end in the interest of all Indonesians.

So, being democratically ruled by the sword must be avoided
and stopped as it is against Islamic teaching. Islam is against
bloodshed, and has no thirst for blood. If by his legitimate
status Abdurrahman is considered incapable of overcoming this
extremely terrible crisis, he should withdraw from the presidency
and his followers must wholeheartedly and willingly accept it.

Islam is rahmatan lil alamin (a blessing for the universe) and
must be a peace-loving religion. Rasulullah (prophet Muhammad)
once said: "Fight against your passions because the biggest war
is the one against yourselves". And this certainly applies to all
Muslims, including the political elite now quibbling for power.

DR. AGUS SUNTORO

Jakarta