Muslims, terror and collective memory

Muhammad Qodari, Political Analyst, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta, Qodari@csis.or.id

Although hundreds of events make headlines each year, only a fraction will be remembered by people in subsequent years. What factors contribute to making an enduring collective memory? Empirical studies of political upheavals in the United States indicate that we remember events that change the course of the lives of a large segment of the population. Monuments are built and movies are made at predictable times after the upheavals occur, as written by James Pennebaker in his 1997 book on the world's momentous upheavals.

The terrorist act of Sept. 11, 2001, was that kind of upheaval. It has enormously changed the course of the lives of virtually the entire U.S. population, as well as the country's structure of government. The Department of Homeland Security will consolidate 22 presently uncoordinated departments and will cost the Department of the Treasury US$40 billion a year. The new department aims to monitor 500 million people crossing the U.S. border annually and track more than 11 million trucks taking shipments into the country, 51,000 foreign ships and 2.2 million railcars.

The events of Sept. 11 have become part of the global collective memory, although people in different places may remember them in different ways. The events are "easy" to be remembered not only because of the massive damage they created, but also because of the rapid and vivid transmission of news of the attack.

What is important about collective memory is the influence it can exert on many aspects of our lives, including international politics. The collective memory of World War II, for instance, has strongly influenced subsequent relationships between Japan and countries such as the United States, China and South Korea.

These former enemies of Japan remember Japan's government and people as war aggressors. Americans never forget Pearl Harbor while China keeps mentioning Japan's cruelty in "the massacre of Nanjing".

Kiichi Fujiwara, a professor from the University of Tokyo, delivered a lecture this month at the University of Indonesia on "memory as deterrence"; that the insistence by other nations that Japan is the war aggressor keeps the memory alive. Japan's maintenance of its war memory is considered important to suppress future Japan military adventurism. Other nations accuse the Japanese only of remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where they were the victims of atomic bombing.

The main theme of the collective memory in the heads of Americans and westerners regarding Sept. 11 most likely is the association of Islam with terrorism. The plane hijackers were Muslims and so is Osama bin Laden, who is accused of being behind the attack. The Taliban people who protected bin Laden in Afghanistan also are Muslims. The Bali bombing suspects are Muslims. While Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the leader of Jamaah Islamiyah who is accused of having links with the Bali bombing suspects, is a Muslim cleric.

It is their identity as Muslims that Americans and Western people remember most. Evidence of this can be found in media reports about negative treatment received by a number of Muslims and Arabs living in or visiting the United States and Australia. There were stories about a number of Arabs who were cursed and their houses vandalized after Sept. 11. In Australia, government agents raided houses of Indonesians and Arab immigrants in the course of investigating possible terrorist links.

The new U.S. government policy obliging Indonesian citizens visiting or residing in America to report and register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) adds to the list of proof of this collective memory associating Muslims with terrorism.

There are 25 countries affected by this new U.S. government immigration policy, including "axis of evil" member North Korea. But Daniel Lev, the renowned professor from Washington University, told the Jawa Pos on Jan. 21: "Even though the (U.S.) government would claim the list policy has nothing to do with Islam, the most affected would be Muslims."

The list serves to show that even though Islamic extremists are largely held responsible for terrorism, Muslims (and Arabs) everywhere have to bear the psychological and moral burden of being seen as "potential" terrorists. Just like being Japanese is thought to predispose one to being a war aggressor, being a Muslim is seen as being predisposed to terror.

September 11 is not yet a distant memory, but it is a very strong one that will live in people minds all over the world for a long time. We do not know how long the war against terrorism will last. But even after the war is over, the memory will still be there and exert its influence on the relationship between Muslims and people in other parts of the world, Americans in particular.

My concern is based on Japan's experience. More than 50 years after World War II ended their past identification as a war aggressor has become their historical burden. I wonder if the future of Muslims will similarly be affected, in Indonesia and other parts of the world, for the next half century.

Moderate Muslims, who are the majority, are now struggling to disassociate themselves and Islam from terrorism so that the "true" Islam will eventually be understood. I just hope this struggle will be victorious over the unfavorable collective memory.