The Western media and Prosperous Justice Party

Santi W.E. Soekanto, Jakarta

"We are clean and we care," is the slogan members of the Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) keep shouting to convince the public its existence is a boon to the democratic and economic development of corruption-laden Indonesia.

The party received 8 percent of the vote in the 2004 elections, a vast improvement from the less than 2 percent it received in 1999. This gave the PKS the confidence to declare its goal of winning 22 million votes in 2009. So imagine the horror of party members upon learning last month that according to the influential Far Eastern Economic Review, the PKS is a menace to the country.

Lumping PKS together with Jamaah Islamiyyah for subscribing "to the same fundamentally anti-modern view", writer Sadanand Dhume described PKS as a "greater threat to Indonesia's tradition of pluralism, its stability and its prospects for economic growth". He contended that PKS "leaders tend to couch their statements in ambiguity designed to calm Western and secular Indonesian fears while at the same time reassuring the party's base about its goal, the Islamization of Indonesian society culminating in the imposition of a state based on sharia".

That "for all its efforts to moderate its image, (PKS) has not been able to distance itself entirely from violence. (Former PKS president) Hidayat Nur Wahid and other party leaders are among (Abu Bakar) Ba'asyir's most vocal supporters". And the "(PKS) is on the march, what happens along the way will be the single biggest determinant of Indonesia's future".

Some party members became hot under the collar, questioning the credibility of Dhume's research which led to the article and which may well be included in his upcoming book on Islam in Indonesian. There are two points the PKS activists need to take into consideration before giving in to rage, however.

First, Dhume's gloom and doom outlook on the fate of Indonesia's democracy, when it is linked with an Islamic political force, appears not to be group-specific. Rather, it is Islamic movement-specific. His piece on Laskar Jihad for FEER in April 2001 imparted the same "wisdom" about the group, which did not translate into reality.

He wrote then how Laskar's "rapid growth illustrates the larger problems facing Indonesia's young democracy. (Its) existence symbolizes the erosion of central government authority and the breakdown of law and order. It also speaks of an explosion of ethnic violence and creeping religious intolerance amid economic hard times".

The organization under Ja'far Umar Thalib, he wrote, "had the potential to mar Indonesia's reputation for practicing a tolerant and inclusive form of Islam". But Laskar Jihad is a different entity altogether from PKS. Both may have a higher command somewhere outside of Indonesia, but we know Laskar Jihad fizzed out because that higher power told Talib to disband his "boys".

PKS, on the other hand, is considered by its "higher command" one of the best examples of how the Ikhwanul Muslimin ( Muslim Brotherhood organization), which originates in Egypt but has sprouted organizational links in 70 countries, has been transforming itself from a dakwah (the spreading of Islam) movement into a formal, recognized entity in those countries' political systems.

Laskar Jihad may have links with "Afghanistan alumni" but it was born out of the Christian-Muslim conflict in eastern Indonesia. PKS, on the other hand, was born out of decades of patience and countless Koranic classes on university campuses, taking advantage of the political reforms in the country.

Its image as a party fighting against corruption (which Laskar was never interested in), the increasing support it won in the last two polls and its share of control in the legislature are indicative of growing political and economic support at the grassroots -- something Laskar never could have matched.

Dhume painted PKS with the same brush he used for Laskar Jihad. But if he was wrong once, he can be proven wrong again -- it really is up to PKS to do this.

This brings us to the second point: Dhume traveled to and conducted interviews in Muslim enclaves, such as Abu Bakar Baasyir's Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, which had actually declared its territory off-limits for journalists from the United States, Australia and Singapore. A paid local Muslim journalist affiliated with the PKS helped Dhume entered places that might not have been as easily accessed otherwise.

Foreign journalists have always solicited the paid assistance of local counterparts for their research. There is nothing wrong with this, except if the local journalists think they can have any control over how the stories turn out. There have been too many cases where foreign journalists descend into Indonesia with stories already written in their heads before even landing in Jakarta.

Post-Sept. 11, being a Muslim journalist or part of the Islamic media has come with perks that can cloud one's judgment.

We are talking about a small pool of journalists, because the Islamic media in Indonesia is not as robust an industry as the mainstream media such as Kompas or Tempo. If we were to come up with a list of Islamic media, we would probably only have Sabili, Suara Hidayatullah, Tarbawi, Saksi, Hidayah, Ummi, NooR, Alia, Muslimah and Paras.

Ummi, Saksi and Tarbawi are affiliated with the PKS. The current largest Islamic publication, Sabili, is not directly linked with PKS but ahead of the 2004 general election became an open supporter of the party. Some of these publications have been blasted as anti-America, anti-Israel or pro-terrorism -- which makes them perfect targets for pro-West (or pro-America) campaigns.

The Foreign Press Center of the U.S. Department of State has over the past few years invited journalists from such publications to the U.S. for trips that have included such places as Graceland and the Big Apple on the itinerary. The objective of these trips, of course, is to persuade the journalists to be more amenable to the American brand of religious freedom and democracy.

It is simply embarrassing to watch these journalists, who during rallies outside the U.S. Embassy fiercely raised their fists to the sky while chanting Amerika Zionis, Biangnya Teroris (America the Zionist, Mother of all Terrorists), return with faces aglow and bursting about the fun they had in America.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Depok and can be reached at santi-soekanto2001@yahoo.com.