PKS clarifies
We would like to comment on the article by Sadanand Dhume that appeared in The Jakarta Post on Dec. 5, PKS and the future of RI's democracy, which was reprinted from an article that previously appeared in a magazine.
* First, we thank the chief editor of the Post for agreeing to speak with us, to provide his views and to hear our views on this article.
* In our view, Dhume's article, which attempted to use association (e.g., linking Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement with the alma mater of one of the respected members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Hidayat Nur Wahid), is full of speculative statements. The overall tone of the article also uses the same tactics to force a conclusion that "the Justice Party is by far the larger threat to Indonesia". This sentence refers to a previous sentence in an attempt to make a comparison with Jamaah Islamiyah.
* While we respect the individual opinion of Dhume, it would be a mistake and an insult to portray an Indonesian political party like the PKS, which was established under the 1945 Constitution (which is the law of the land in Indonesia), as a threat to the country. We would both politically and legally challenge such bigotry and hatred.
* Knowing Dhume's background as a former foreign correspondent in Indonesia, and based on our understanding of his non-academic background and methodology of arguing in his article, we are fully confident that the Post readership is mature enough to make an objective judgment on the mediocre analytical quality and possibly negative motives of Dhume's article.
* In our call to the chief editor, we shared our sadness and concern that a well respected newspaper like the Post, with a broad international and national readership, would use such poor judgment in reprinting a relatively old article of such questionable motives.
* We are of the view that the Post has sufficient credibility and weight to stick to a more objective and strongly substantiated journalism to maintain the loyalty of its sophisticated readership. We also shared our commitment with the chief editor that we would help the readers to realize that the Post has far greater sophistication in selecting its substance, contrary to our disbelief when reading this offensive article by Dhume.
Finally, we would like to thank the Post for providing us with the opportunity to express our response to the re-printing of this article. We would like to also thank the readers for their attention to this matter.
TIFATUL SEMBIRING, President of PKS