Moslem leaders tell public to wait for democracy

JAKARTA (JP): Moslem leaders are calling for gradual democratization and warning the community against violent change.

Outspoken Moslem scholar Amien Rais said Saturday the public should not strive for democracy through revolution because it might backfire.

"Establishing democracy through revolution is like going on a haj pilgrimage with money that you got from a robbery. It's just not right," said the chairman of the 28 million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization.

He said the public should pursue gradual democratization.

"Democracy needs to be improved... (but) we must not do it in anger because (after all this time) Indonesia has reached only this stage (of democracy). We should accept it and strive to improve it together," he said.

Noted preachers Khalil Ridwan and Hussein Umar of the Indonesian Committee for World Moslem Solidarity, a group of Islamic organizations and leaders, supported his statement separately yesterday.

Khalil, known for leading the campaign against past government policies including the state lottery, said a revolution here and now would only cause disintegration.

Hussein, a leading member of the Islamic Propagation Council and Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals, agreed with Amien, saying that if revolution was defined as change through violence and bloodshed it would setback all the nation's achievements.

Both Hussein and Khalil said Islam's concept of syura surpassed Western democracy because it meant people must solve their differences through deliberation.

Hussein said, "The Western concept of democracy stresses political competition. Indonesians are actually more familiar with the mechanisms of syura."

Khalil said that Indonesia, with its Moslem majority and its own leaders did not need a revolution for change.

"It was different when we were still colonized by other countries," he said. "Besides, Islam is a religion of peace. We fight only when we need to defend ourselves. We are taught to encourage people to do good and prevent one another from committing misdeeds."

Khalil said people must look for ways to improve democracy without disintegrating the state.

Amien, also a lecturer of politics at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said he was optimistic that Indonesia would one day be on par with other countries in terms of democracy.

"Democracy cannot be achieved instantly," he said. "But we must not be pessimistic, because democratization is a learning process."

"Let's say that now our democracy is at a grade school level. In the next ten years, it will reach a high school level, and it will reach university level in another decade," he said.

He said greater press freedom and allowing people to establish political parties would be good ways to increase democracy.

Non-governmental organizations were needed to give people greater room for expression, Amien said.

"These organizations should be guided and invited to help educate the public. They shouldn't be avoided or even clobbered," he said. (swe)