Moslem leaders tell public to wait for democracy

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)