Don't corner Muslims
Don't corner Muslims
Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
korpur@yahoo.com
After saying his predawn prayers at the At-Taqwa mosque in a
housing complex in East Jakarta on Thursday, a man approached his
old friend, a Catholic neighbor who was jogging near the mosque.
But this time the face of the engineering lecturer looked grim.
His neighbor saw that he was evidently disturbed by the
criticism of Australian Prime Minister John Howard over the
verdict of cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir. Howard described the
verdict as too lenient, but when the Bali bombers were sentenced
to death his foreign minister Alexander Downer said he did not
condone the death penalty.
"Why can't Indonesia do anything right in the eyes of western
nations, while the U.S. and Australia can do no wrong?" said the
man who preaches regularly on Friday's at the mosque.
"Bush and Blair have duped the world in invading Iraq. They
shamelessly continue to hide their deception. What did they find
in Iraq? Why do they think they can do no wrong?"
A key minister in President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Cabinet
also expressed the same sentiment. The minister pointed out that
Indonesia had done a lot to prove its commitment to combating
terrorism, ranging from the issuance of an antiterrorism law, and
the transparent and fair trial of Bali bombing defendants. He is
clearly irked with the international criticism over the verdict
for Ba'asyir.
Indonesia is the world's largest nations where Muslims are in
the majority, and most of them are people who only want a
peaceful and prosperous life, who are tolerant of their non-
Muslim compatriots. The country however for the last six years
has continued to face severe economic hardship, deteriorating
living conditions and fighting among power-hungry politicians.
Foreign companies are leaving because the country has lost its
competitiveness and comparative advantages.
Millions do not have work. Crops have failed due to severe
drought and people are struggling just to get clean water. The
country now is not only among the world's poorest but also among
the most corrupt.
Western countries, the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), criticized mega-scale corruption committed
by former president Soeharto's family and cronies. But when
Soeharto's successors tried to annul megaprojects carried out by
international corporations -- because the projects were full of
marked up costs -- the same organizations and countries screamed
that Indonesia should honor the contracts.
And now the nation has a new claim to fame: major supplier of
international terrorists. Look at Hambali, who is described by
U.S. President George W. Bush as a world-class terrorist.
We have very little pride left as a nation now, and because
the majority of the people are Muslims they are the main victims
of this chaos. Worse, they are led by leaders of society who
think they are born only to enrich themselves, to abuse their
power, and to take anything within their reach.
Talk to ordinary Indonesian Muslims, and we will see that very
few have any sympathy for cleric Abu Bakar. They are angered with
the convicted and suspected Muslim terrorists who burned
churches, bombed Bali and the Marriott Hotel, and who boasted
that they represent Islam and that their evil acts are based on
their belief as Muslims.
A little bit of respect, encouragement and empathy from
neighbors and friends would indeed be welcomed by the people who
have been suffering so long. Continued patronizing language by
western countries and richer neighbors may lead many here to
stand up and say: "If we are poor and stupid as you say, so
what?" And then when they feel they have nothing to lose, that
others are continuing to bully them, they might just do something
really stupid in retaliation.
The country is blamed for destroying its forests, but where do
most of the forestry products go? The plywood is not exported to
poor nations in Africa, but to super rich nations like Japan and
European countries.
Many Indonesian Muslims currently feel their religion has been
linked to the barbaric acts of terrorists; these are the Muslims
who believe that Islam teaches peace, tolerance and equality. The
pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) are now cited as major
sources of fundamentalists. But do Catholic seminaries only
produce angels?
To be fair, the government has done a lot in curbing terrorism
under the circumstances, though it may be regarded as far from
enough.
Western leaders like Prime Minister Howard might want to
glance in the mirror and ask: "Am I innocent in the killing of
thousands of Iraqis during our support for the invasion in Iraq?"