Muslim majority urged to rise and speak out

Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's conservative Muslim majority is being urged to rise from its inertia and become a more vocal alternative to balance extremist views which create misperceptions of Islam among non- Muslim audiences.

In a frank dialog on Islam here on Tuesday between heads of the diplomatic community and local religious leaders, foreign envoys highlighted the need for the tolerant and prudent majority to be heard more, not only to combat narrow-minded perceptions about Islam but also to safeguard the presence of civil society in Indonesia.

They pointed out that while most who live here realized that Indonesian Muslims were tolerant and peaceful, troublesome extremist groups often dictated headlines due to their boisterous nature.

Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia Richard Campbell Smith, during the discussions, said it was crucial for moderate Muslims, which make up a majority of the population here, to speak up.

"It's terribly important that voices of the moderates be heard, in your society as in every society," Smith said.

In this digital age of lightning media exposure, Smith believes there is "no virtue anymore, in this very vocal world we live in, in being a silent majority."

"If the mainstream remains silent and the extremists triumph, it is my experience that societies become dislocated, become uncertain of themselves, lose confidence, develop a sense of paranoia and lose their sense of direction," he added.

Despite being the largest Muslim-populated nation in the world, Indonesia, in the past three decades, has rarely been identified as a hotbed for Islamic radicalism.

However, since the fall of Soeharto and the resulting opportunities, more radical groups have been able to grab the media spotlight. Another result of the new freedom to protest is that the archipelago has witnessed thousands die in the past three years in communal and religious conflicts.

Muslim sentiments have also hardened here in recent months due what many perceived was the vilification of Islam after Sept. 11.

Tuesday's dialog, dubbed 'Islam and the West working together for a peaceful world', was an initiative by the Muhammadiyah Muslim organization to bridge such misunderstandings.

Muhammadiyah is reportedly a 30-million strong moderate group.

Dozens of foreign envoys attended the meeting along with numerous local religious and community leaders.

Discussions at Muhammadiyah headquarters on Tuesday not only centered around perceptions of Islam but also Jakarta's handling of religious groups in the country.

Many outside of Indonesia have criticized President Megawati Soekarnoputri's unwillingness to crackdown on radical religious elements, which some claim may encourage terrorist activity.

But Nurcholish Madjid, one of Indonesia's most respected Muslim scholars, said Megawati's hands-off approach was appropriate and played down suggestions that operatives of the al-Qaeda network were establishing a foothold here.

"We are accused of being lenient, but at the same time we are holding to the principle that we want to be democratic. We want to learn how to have supremacy of law," Nurcholish told reporters.

American Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce, after the dialog, flatly denied the notion that the West was trying to destroy Islam in its war against terror.

"It's a fight between the civilized nations of the world and terror," Boyce told The Jakarta Post.

"I was happy to hear speakers on all sides of the spectrum reject the notion that this is a war against Islam, or that there is a fundamental distinction between Islam and the West."

This, however, was not enough for some Muslim leaders, including Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Maarif, who in recent weeks seems to have hardened his rhetoric amid growing criticism.

"Their accusations have become intolerable. Most developing countries have their radicals, but moderate Muslims are the majority in our (Indonesia's) case," Syafii said.

Chief of the militant group Laskar Jihad, Jafar Umar Thalib, also added that despite understanding the need to weed out terrorists in Afghanistan he was against military action there.

Jafar claimed he harbored no ill will towards non-Muslims nor did he have any terrorist links. He also defended his move to send his paramilitary fighters to the sectarian conflicts in Maluku and Sulawesi.

"I only sent them to ... Maluku a full year after thousands of Muslims were slaughtered...I sent them there to defend our Muslim brothers," Jafar said.