Indonesian poll a victory for Islamic diversity

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.