Indonesia to the rescue against radicalism

Indonesia to the rescue against radicalism

By Karim Raslan

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic nation is a bastion of moderate Islam. In the rush to categorize and comprehend the causes behind the terrible loss of life in New York and Washington D.C., few have stopped to consider the republic's potential role for countering extremism.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to the U.S. should remind Americans that most Muslims have nothing to do with fundamentalists such as Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban. At this critical juncture it's also important to bear in mind her nation's tolerant and accommodating Islamic milieu.

Despite its myriad problems, Indonesia represents a beacon of hope for those disgusted and appalled by the abject failure of Islamic practices in the Arab world and on the subcontinent.

Extremism and fundamentalism can only be countered from within the faith. No amount of American intervention will ever turn the tide against bigotry and ignorance. Too much meddling by westerners could well radicalize the community even more.

Moderate believers must look to examples such as Indonesia, where Islam has encountered and interacted with new and alien forces. In Indonesia (and Malaysia to a lesser extent) science and technology, commerce and modern management and the all- important challenges of democracy, human rights and gender equality are being tackled head-on.

In short, Samuel Huntington's diatribe, The Clash of Civilizations, was wrong. Contrary to expectations the real conflict ignited by the terrorist attacks is not between Islam and an American-led, Judeo-Christian front.

The greater challenge is the struggle currently taking place within the ummah (the Islamic community), between moderate and progressive Muslims on the one hand and fundamentalist extremists on the other. This battle for the hearts and minds of believers will be fought on two fronts: the first is theological and educational and the second concerns socio-economic issues and the civil society agenda. In both cases the experiences of world's largest Islamic nation, Indonesia will be critical.

Fundamentalist Muslims -- guided by the teachings of the 18th century Arab preacher Abdul Wahab and shaped by the experiences of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the late Pakistani Islamic ideologue, Maududi, are of the opinion that all civil institutions and human activity must be subordinate to divine law as revealed in the Holy Koran and the Sunnah.

The Wahabis, followers of Abdul Wahab and heavily funded by the Saudi government, reject local religious practices and innovations. Shi'ite Muslims, for example, and Sufi sects are vilified and treated as kafir or unbelievers. Advocating a return to what they consider to be the fundamentals of the Holy Koran, the Wahabis have dismissed all differing interpretations. With their intolerance they have effectively destroyed the rich diversity and discourse within the faith.

Moreover the Wahabi rhetoric, especially as propagated in the Deobandi madrasah (religious schools) of Pakistan has been the main source of the Taliban's ideological fervor. Concepts such jihad are interpreted purely in terms of hatred and militancy, with America and the Shi'ite Iran as the chief protagonists.

Indonesia is one of the few surviving centers of indigenous, non-Arabic Islamic tradition. As Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, a leading young Indonesian Islamic liberal thinker argues: "The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU, with its 30 million members) and the equally numerous Muhammadiyah are two pillars supporting the nation's tolerant and moderate Islam."

The NU's pesantren (religious schools) tradition with its emphasis on mastering the Arabic language and Islamic jurisprudence bequeaths Indonesia with a large number of locally- trained religious scholars. The commitment to Islamic education is matched by a stunning readiness to embrace new ideas.

The resilience and innovation of celebrated Muslim scholars such as Nurcholish Madjid and former president Abdurrahman Wahid means that Indonesia has managed to stave off the Saudi-sponsored Wahabi missionaries. Still, the popular mood can shift overnight. Leaders such Megawati are keenly aware of the risks they are taking in denouncing terrorism as "barbaric and indiscriminate". There is always the danger of outraging the conservative religious establishment and provoking unscrupulous opponents such as Amien Rais, who are willing to employ inflammatory religious rhetoric in order to further their political careers.

Unfortunately, her nation's precarious economic and political predicament -- tied to whims of the all-powerful IMF, also serves as a warning to Pentagon strategists because many moderate Islamic governments are severely weakened.

Moderate Islamic democracies such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Turkey face similar challenges, though without the advantage of Indonesia's thriving, independent Islamic tradition.

Of course these nations must also confront the deep flaws that have fueled the rise of Islamic extremism within their borders. A combination of political repression, corruption, mismanagement has alienated many people from the idea of democracy, progress and modernity. Furthermore ineffectual civilian governments (often alternating with periods of military rule) have generally been unable to tackle the iniquitous distribution of wealth or alleviate mass poverty.

Moreover there is a danger that the principles that were the hallmark of the supposedly modernizing elites -- secularism, gender equality and liberalism -- have in many cases become tainted by corruption and decadence. In Egypt for example in 1971, Jehan's Law (named after Anwar Sadat's blonde-haired wife) with its ground-breaking reform of divorce law merely served to increase tension between the state and the Islamicists.

Unsurprisingly, across the region the wealthy, westernized elites -- often lacking in legitimacy and scornful of the mass of the population -- have had to depend on the security apparatus to maintain their hold on power.

Nonetheless the events in New York and Washington have served as a wake-up call to moderate Islamic nations. In order to withstand the coming shocks, these nations must address their internal weaknesses: economically and politically. Only then can they halt the seemingly endless slide towards Islamic militancy and extremism.

At the same time greater effort must be made to expand the breadth of religious education for young Muslims. Intolerance and bigotry in the classrooms and seminaries has to be dealt with head-on. It is also critical to curb the pernicious impact of the Saudi-sponsored Wahabi teachings that can so easily be directed towards militant ends.

Finally, moderate Muslims must explore Indonesia's vibrant and indigenous Islamic traditions. The country's rich vein of Islamic scholarship has embraced new ideas and sought to interpret the Holy Koran in a manner that reveals its compatibility with democracy, human rights, gender equality and social justice.

The writer is a columnist and lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.