Vox populi, vox Dei

The massive anti-war protests in major cities across the globe over the weekend sent the loudest message yet to President George W. Bush that the world considers military action against Iraq appalling and unacceptable. As the leader of the world's lone superpower, Bush may think he can dismiss the objections raised by fellow members in the UN Security Council, but he would be dead wrong to ignore the message from the weekend's protests.

One conservative estimate put the number of protesters at more than six million people, making it largest ever simultaneous demonstration since the Vietnam War. They were staged in many of the world's major capitals and cities. They had one message: We want peace. With the exception of minor skirmishes with the police, these demonstrations went off in a largely peaceful way.

And it is no coincidence that some of the largest protests were held in countries whose governments support Bush's hardline military stance. In New York and San Francisco, London, Madrid, Rome, and all the major cities in Australia, people turned up to tell their own governments to back off from the war path.

Indonesia can find comfort from these massive protests. As the world's most populous Muslim country, there have been fears that a U.S. attack against Iraq would be portrayed by some people here as an attack against Islam. It would be a sure recipe for disaster in Indonesia because it would galvanize the radical groups in this country and raise tension between Muslims and non- Muslims.

The weekend protests show that the antiwar sentiments are equally shared by people of all nationalities, races and religions. And because many conscientious Americans joined in, the demonstrations did not turn into a display of U.S.-bashing, nor were they an endorsement of the current regime in Baghdad.

Few people are disputing that there is a need to disarm Saddam Hussein of his weapons of mass destruction. But the protesters are saying that disarmament can still be done by peaceful means. The consequences of a full-scale war, especially with regard to the civilian victims, would be just too horrendous.

Those who think differently, particularly government leaders who still think they can ignore the message from the people of the world, need their heads examined.