It's the iron fist that matters

This is in response to the opinion piece Are Indonesians truly tolerant by M. Tholchah on Dec. 9.

In spite of the impressive critical views given by the writer of this article, he somehow missed out on the fact that the "tolerant society" created in Indonesia during the 32 years of Soeharto's rule, as he has pointed out, was, in my view, not because of the successful indoctrination of Pancasila as the writer has claimed. It was because of the iron-fist-in-a-velvet- glove rule of the Soeharto regime that the volcano in Indonesian society that erupted in the post Soeharto era lay dormant for more than three decades.

The regime's iron-fist approach had created a calm surface with a river of boiling lava below that was ready to erupt at any time. The riots and violence that occurred in the post-Soeharto Indonesia prove my proposition.

With the absence of the sort of strict control by the government over the populace that we witnessed during the Soeharto period has resulted in conflagrations all over Indonesia.

At the same time, claiming that the grim reality in the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia (rampant corruption, violence, crime and other criminal acts), shows the true face of Islam in my view, a mistake. It is the individual, and not the religion, that needs to be blamed. It is not Islamic teachings that produce these conditions but the understanding of individuals about Islam that need to be reviewed. I am quite convinced, given the writer's background, that my view will prove to be entirely acceptable.

AHMAD QISA, New Delhi