Radicalism no threat to Indonesia: Crouch

Radicalism no threat to Indonesia: Crouch

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Religious radicalism has no place in the world's most populous
Muslim country due to the fact that the sociocultural diversity
of the people here would discourage such extremist movements,
analysts said on Friday.

Harold Crouch, a prominent Indonesianist from the Australian
National University (ANU), told a two-day seminar titled
Indonesian Update 2002 in Canberra that reports of radical
movements in Indonesia were "exaggerated" by foreign media.

He was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying it was a
"misperception" to consider that campaigns for the implementation
of Islamic sharia law in Indonesia were a radical movement.

Such campaigns could not be accused of embracing and promoting
radicalism since they were conducted through peaceful ways,
Crouch added.

Similarly, international relations expert Dewi Fortuna Anwar
of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) told the seminar
that radical movements were no threat to Indonesia, arguing that
the nation's diverse culture would not support their growth.

There were no Islamic organizations in Indonesia which could
be considered "real radical groups", she said.

Crouch further said there had been a tendency that hardline
groups campaigning for the adoption of Islamic sharia law in
Indonesia had ceased using violence to achieve their goals, like
what the now defunct Darul Islam radical movement did in 1950s.

Crouch said the radical movements had significantly declined
in Indonesia since then.

Darul Islam, led by Marijan Sukarmaji Kartosuwiryo, fought for
sharia in the country in the 1950s. Established in West Java, the
group declared an Indonesian Islamic state on Aug. 7, 1949 and
waged a rebellion against government forces.

Kartosuwiryo allowed his members to rob, kill and rape other
Muslims and non-Muslims in their violent struggle. The religious
rebels even attempted to assassinate founding president Sukarno
before their notorious leader was captured and killed.

The rebellion spread to three other provinces -- South
Sulawesi, South Kalimantan and Aceh.

Following the downfall of former strongman Soeharto in 1998,
Islamic extremism emerged once again.

Hardline groups like Laskar Jihad, the Islam Defenders' Front
(FPI) and the Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MII) have openly
campaigned for their causes: the adoption of sharia.

The three groups, along with the United Development Party
(PPP) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB), were the most prominent
to demand the inclusion of sharia, contained in the Jakarta
Charter, in the amended constitution.

The demand was rejected by the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) during its Annual Session last August.

"We cannot label legislators calling for the inclusion of the
Jakarta Charter as those of radical groups because they struggle
for their aspirations through democratic channels," Crouch said.

He said followers of radicalism were often connected to
violence to achieve their goals.

He added that it was not the case in Indonesia.

Even though religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians
were raging on in the Maluku islands and the Central Sulawesi
regency of Poso, they had nothing to do with radicalism.

"They are fighting against each other but it is not the
problem of radicalism," he added.