Indonesian poll a victory for Islamic diversity

Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, The Straits Times/Asia News Network, Singapore

Indonesia's transfer of power reminds me of the Ottoman empire sending ships to rescue Jews when Spain expelled them in 1492. That was 150 years before Jews were permitted to set foot in Britain, long regarded as the epitome of liberalism, from where they had been expelled in 1290.

The comparison holds two lessons. First, if stereotypes like Islam being bigoted and autocratic had been true to life, Turkey, seat of the Caliphate, would not have set Christian Europe an example of enlightenment five centuries ago.

Second, the respect the world's most populous Muslim nation has demonstrated for the ballot over bullets confirms that the ummah (community) of 1.3 billion Muslims is not the monolith self-serving interests make it out to be.

Religion, one of many determinants of behavior, is also influenced by history, geography and culture. Saudi Arabia's austere Wahhabi faith is a far cry from the Kashmiri Muslim's Sufi mysticism. Defying radical populist movements, Indonesians previously elected a secular woman, with a Hindu grandmother at that, because of the tolerance they had imbibed from Islam's animist, Hindu and Buddhist predecessors.

When Golkar was dominant, it referred to five promising officers as the Pandawa Lima, or Five Pandavas, meaning the five royal brothers in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata.

United States-trained President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 55, led the Pandawa Lima. He was elected a couple of weeks before Australia's general election and, more pertinently, before the first presidential election in Afghanistan, which will vote again for a parliament next spring.

Australia matters because Indonesia is its nearest Asian neighbor and relations have not always been cordial. Sound cooperation, which would contribute to regional stability, seemed threatened recently when a car bomb outside Jakarta's Australian Embassy killed nine people and wounded 182.

But Australia promised A$15 million (S$18.5 million) for the election, and Susilo announced it will be one of the first countries on his travel itinerary.

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri was right to hail his triumph as "a victory for all of us". It is a victory not only for all Indonesians, including the small Christian, Buddhist and Hindu minorities, but also for the region, and for all Muslim societies with democratic aspirations. The ummah awaits its most exacting trial in Iraq, which is scheduled to go to the polls in January.

The real point of Indonesia's staggered election is that it may enable Indonesians to catch up with their richer neighbors.

It was the tragedy of their founding father, Sukarno, that he saw politics as an end in itself. Perhaps this was understandable in the aftermath of the Bandung conference, when the sun of non- alignment strode the heavens, but it distracted attention from the fundamental needs of 210 million people in 17,000 islands straddling the Indian and Pacific oceans.

Today, Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Abundant raw materials support its expanding manufacturing base.

Foreign investors will help Susilo meet the demand for industrialization. His campaign plank promised to boost the economy, create jobs and root out corruption.

Little point is served by discussing the murky events that ended the Sukarno era. The years that followed brought a semblance of stability and some growth but at the cost of civil liberties and, above all, the respect national leaders must enjoy if the nation is to forge ahead.

The 1998 riots that brought down General Soeharto reflected widespread discontent with rapacity at the top, corruption in every sphere and a stagnant economy. The chaotic years since were a period of transition, during which Indonesia struggled to rediscover its soul and realize its potential.

Now its hour has come, the new President will have to go beyond politics and economics, and come to grips with the challenge of national reconciliation. East Timor is out of the way, but he still faces the problems of Irian Jaya, Aceh, Ambon and the difficulties faced by Chinese Indonesians.

A strong Indonesia presupposes the willing cooperation of all its constituents. The factors that encourage optimism about Susilo's ability to tackle this task include Indonesia's multicultural identity in a diverse ummah.

The national symbol of the Golden Garuda, the creed of Pancasila and Sanskrit-origin names like Megawati, Soekarnoputri and Yudhoyono, all indicate a unique eclecticism that belies conventional notions of Islamic conformity.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The views expressed here are his own.