Liddle criticizes Indonesia out of concern
By Santi W.E. Soekanto
JAKARTA (JP): Can people actually criticize something out of love, and not out of spite?
This question applies to R. William Liddle, a prominent expert on Indonesia from Ohio State University, whose analyses on local social and political issues often earn him either praise or the wrath of various parties.
Though probably not intentionally, Liddle must often have proven that people really can criticize something for some reason other than spite. He says he makes his corrective remarks out of concern for Indonesia.
"I'm really afraid for Indonesia's future," he said before launching into a lengthy analysis of the difficulties emerging from Indonesia's political climate and how to redress the problems.
As for love, a number of people have expressed their belief that Liddle does love Indonesia and criticizes only because he wishes to see improvement.
"Whenever I talk to him, I feel like I'm talking to a 'real' Indonesian," Salomo Simanungkalit, a reporter at Kompas daily, whom Liddle adopted many years ago, said. "Sometimes, he's even more Indonesian than our people."
It's not that he ever publicly declared his "love" for Indonesia, but a description of Liddle by political scientist Burhan Magenda might very well fit him.
Burhan once defined Liddle and several other experts on Asia, including America's George McTurnan Kahin, Daniel Lev, Clifford Geertz and Australia's Jamie Mackie and Herb Feith, as the "Indonesian lobby" abroad.
"This group consists of experts who are critical and yet also an early and staunch 'lobby' for Indonesia," Burhan wrote in Kompas daily more than a decade ago.
"These (scientists) can be described as having made Indonesia their 'second homeland', so that it should never be doubted that their love for Indonesia extends beyond the boundaries of political and administrative periods.
"They are critical enough of both the (past) Guided Democracy administration and of the (current) New Order administration, although it can be said that they are sincere supporters of the New Order, especially because of its economic development programs," Burhan wrote.
"But it can't be denied that many of them are disappointed with several early policies of the New Order administration, which were later changed, concerning, for example, the freedom to assemble and political protection for the weak.
"With their criticism, the group are basically loyal friends of Indonesia," Burhan wrote.
On a more personal level, Liddle shows signs of his deep attachment, probably affection, for Indonesia, by immersing himself in the local culture.
One possible reason is the fact that he has personal ties with Indonesia. His eldest son, Dallas, was born in Simalungun regency, North Sumatra, 32 years ago, when Liddle was conducting his first research study of Indonesia.
He speaks the Indonesian language fluently and he loves wayang, the traditional shadow puppetry.
He was very encouraged when his second child, Craig, now 30, came to Indonesia and learned Javanese traditional dances from prominent choreographer Bagong Kussudiardjo.
And he cooks rendang -- a traditional dish of meat simmered in spices and coconut milk, a specialty of the West Sumatran people -- for his family back home in the United States. And he refuses to use instant coconut milk for this purpose. He buys dried grated coconut, instead.
"I'm not a stupid cook," he told Salomo when the latter suggested that it might be easier for him to buy instant coconut milk.
According to Salomo, Liddle even has a monthly routine of introducing his two younger children, Catherine and Adam, to Indonesian culture through his cooking.
He even calls Catherine, now 9, by the nickname Cut, in the traditional Acehnese way of addressing female royalty. At the time she was born, Liddle was teaching at the Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh.
Controversy
Liddle studied Southeast Asia at Yale University and chose Indonesian studies as his specialty there. He obtained his Ph. D. degree from the same university, and has been a Foreign Area Training Fellow, a Carnegie New Nations Fellow at the University of Chicago, and a Ford Foundation Southeast Asia Fellow.
From 1973-1976, he was chairman of the Indonesia Studies Committee of the Association for Asian Studies and participated in the creation of the Indonesia Studies Summer Institute in Madison, Wisconsin.
In the course of over two decades, Liddle has written numerous books and articles on Indonesia, which are often critical of its social and political development.
His publications, based on extensive research in various parts of Indonesia since 1962, include Ethnicity, Party and National Integration: An Indonesian Case Study (1970), and Political Participation in Modern Indonesia (1973).
Liddle also lectures in various places, appears to be always ready with answers on various issues, and never shies away from sensitive questions, such as the succession of national leadership and the role of religion in politics.
There are always countless reasons for people to criticize a person, and Liddle seems to have managed to draw a fair amount of controversy because he is never reluctant to show "whose side" he is on.
When he criticizes, he does it sharply, even to the point where people might interpret the remarks as instigation. When he praises, he does so in such a generous way that sometimes people are led to believe that he is unfair, or, even worse, a blind supporter of some causes.
"To me, East Timor is not a part of Indonesia," he said unflinchingly about the sensitive issue of Indonesia's youngest province.
He made this remark just a few days after being accused of supporting the status quo in Indonesian politics because he said he preferred not to see a change of national leadership in 1998 for the sake of "political stability".
If one follows his writings and subsequent public reactions to them, it is relatively easy to note that he draws the most wrath whenever he speaks about religion, especially Islam.
Islamic state
A good example of such incidents was the time he wrote in the Ulumul Qur'an Moslem publication about whether Indonesian Moslems still pursued the notion of an Islamic state and concerning the role of the Media Dakwah Moslem magazine in voicing Moslems' political aspirations in the New Order government.
He basically attempted to show that a group of "moderate" Moslems, led by prolific writer and thinker Nurcholish Madjid, has adjusted to the idea that an Islamic state is not necessary, while another group, the "scripturalists", stubbornly held on to the concept.
"For Media Dakwah, the idea of an Islamic state lives on, even if it reveals (the concept) more carefully," Liddle wrote.
The magazine and a number of Moslem leaders, including Amien Rais of the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization, reacted strongly to Liddle's article.
Instigating
The conclusion of those who opposed him was that Liddle had been "instigating" and pitting one group of Moslems against another.
"Is Media Dakwah `scripturalist'? If by that term Liddle means the magazine and its supporters are loyal followers of the Holy Koran and the Prophet's sunnah (examples, tradition), then our answer is definitely 'yes'," the magazine wrote. "If what Liddle means by `scripturalist' is an asocial attitude of anti- intellectualism, we strongly refute it."
Liddle, however, did not seem to mind the criticism very much. When reminded about it, he shrugs.
Neither does he seem to plan to change course and speak more "carefully".
During a discussion at The Jakarta Post early this week, he casually said that, in his opinion, Indonesia will fare better politically in the future if it takes moderate approaches and avoids polarization among groups in society at all cost.
For instance, he suggested it would be better if "moderate" Moslem communities, led by figures such as thinker and writer Nurcholish Madjid, played greater roles than "the militant Moslems" now emerging on university campuses.
On another occasion, he examined the content of the Republika daily, published by a foundation established by the powerful Indonesian Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), for two months and later concluded that it does not represent the political aspirations of Moslems, especially the middle class.
He illustrated how a friend of his once counted the newspapers used by Moslems as their prayer mats during one Idul Fitri prayer, and found only a small number of Republika. The most-used newspapers, instead, were Kompas and Suara Pembaruan.
He concluded that the Moslem middle class preferred those two dailies over the Moslem-based Republika because the latter was less than adequate in meeting their needs for quality reading and for a venue for their political aspirations.
Such bold analysis and approach, which to some people might seem to be simplistic, is probably the reason why his statements often become controversial.
"Liddle is not an expert on Islam, so he should stick to political analysis," a reader of his writings commented.
But Liddle may not agree. In the discussion at the Post, he pointed out that there are at least three interrelated social factors which should be examined by an observer of a country to enable that scholar to really understand the development of the nation in questions.
These factors are potential conflicts arising from the interplay between religion and politics, the middle and working classes, and regional concern, as opposed to central government policies, he said.
He said he intended to study and write more about those factors in Indonesia, so it's likely that he'll continue to create more controversies here.