Why moderate Muslims are annoyed with America

Why moderate Muslims are annoyed with America

Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo, Former Governor, National Resilience Institute
(Lemhanas), Jakarta

It seems that Americans are wondering why more and more
Muslims in Indonesia are getting annoyed with America, including
the "moderate" Muslims. In The New York Times of Sept. 3, Jane
Perlez wrote an article titled Once mild, Islam looks harsher in
Indonesia. She said that the moderate strand of Islam in
Indonesia is being eroded at a rapid pace and wonders whether the
country is becoming the "caliphate" of the 21st century.

The U.S. government is sending experts, led by its former
ambassador to Syria, Edward P. Djerejian, to Indonesia to find
out what is wrong and how the U.S. could come up with a program
that would conquer the hearts and minds of Muslims in Indonesia.
Perlez also pointed out, however, that given the U.S. is facing
so much trouble in winning the hearts and minds of the people in
the Middle East, it may well prove to be no easier in Indonesia.

It is highly debatable whether the moderate strand of Islam in
Indonesia is becoming weaker, although more and more Muslims here
are getting annoyed with America, including the moderates.

In the past the majority of Muslims in Indonesia did not
perceive the U.S. in a negative way. On the contrary, many Muslim
scholars and intellectuals who had gained the opportunity to
visit the U.S. and study there were very much in favor of
America. Also at the Muslim grassroots level, there was scarcely
a ripple of anti-Americanism -- unlike today. Generally
Indonesians were friendly and well-disposed toward America.

However, after the end of the Cold War and the defeat of
communism by the West, many Muslims sensed a change in America's
attitude toward Islam. They felt that the cordial relationship
between America and Islam, including Islam in Indonesia, was
over, because the former American attitude was perceived to be
less than genuine, more a strategic move to get Muslim support
for the American struggle against the communist bloc.

The most radical change in the U.S. attitude toward Islam
began with Sept. 11. Most Muslims in Indonesia condemned these
terrorist acts, as much as they condemned the Bali and JW
Marriott bombings. However, they felt that after Sept. 11, 2001,
America began to stigmatize Islam.

Regardless of many in the U.S denying the notion of a "clash
of civilizations" following the terrorist acts, the feeling
spread among Muslims that America was treating Islam very
differently from before. It was as if Islam was replacing
communism as American enemy number one, in spite of repeated
denials by the U.S. government.

It was as if terrorism only had an Islamic brand, although
there has also been terrorism in Ireland and many other places
involving non-Muslims. Muslims here have heard or experienced
personally how Muslims are treated in America or upon their
arrival in America, for instance, and they do not like it at all.

In the eyes of moderate Muslims here, the U.S. military
offensive against Afghanistan was not so much an effort to
eliminate Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, but more a move to
safeguard U.S. resources interests.

Many of them know very well that the group around President
George W. Bush has for a long time planned to build an oil
pipeline from Central Asia through Afghanistan to the Indian
Ocean, but had failed to persuade the Afghan Taliban government
to cooperate with the project. To achieve its objectives, the
U.S. did not shy away from using aerial bombings which caused
many casualties among ordinary Afghans. The double standards and
arrogance of power demonstrated by America were all too obvious,
while the U.S. always presses other nations to observe human
rights strictly.

The attack on Iraq was a much stronger cause of annoyance.
This act of war was a clear violation of international law and a
clear rejection of the authority of the United Nations. Hegemonic
ambitions were obvious from the statements of U.S. leaders. Many
Americans denied that the attack was aimed at controlling Iraqi
oil. They said that the objective was to liquidate Saddam
Hussein's regime and to remold Iraq into a model of democracy
that could influence the rest Middle East, encouraging it to
follow suit. Civilian casualties were worth the price.

But for many Muslims here this was all hypocrisy and
arrogance, in particular for those acquainted with strategies
related to acquiring oil.

We know many Americans are also frustrated with their own
leaders. One of them is Clyde Prestowitz, author of Rogue Nation
(Basic Books, New York, 2003), who has also visited Indonesia and
Malaysia. He wrote: "Strategically important and traditional
practitioners of a liberal Islam, neither (Indonesia nor
Malaysia) has significant ties with the Middle East. Yet few
conversations could get past the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio.

"Every night on television, they see U.S. leaders holding pep
rallies with Israeli leaders and Israelis using American weapons
to attack Palestinian targets." The result, he adds, "... is that
many old friends of America conclude that the U.S. is attacking
Islam itself."

Another American, Chalmers Johnson, in his book Blowback (Time
Warner Paperbacks, 2002) writes: "We Americans deeply believe
that our role in the world is virtuous -- that our actions are
almost invariably for the good of others as well as ourselves.
Even when our country's actions have led to disaster, we assume
that the motives behind them were honorable.

"But the evidence is building up that in the decade following
the end of the Cold War, the U.S. largely abandoned a reliance on
diplomacy, economic aid, international law, and multilateral
institutions in carrying out its foreign policies and resorted
much of the time to bluster, military force and financial
manipulations. The world is not a safer place as a result."

If America wants to become a hegemonic power, it is rather
difficult for other nations to prevent that. However, if America
want to be a hegemonic power that has the respect and trust of
other nations, it must be a benign one and not one that causes a
reaction of hate or fear among other nations.

If, therefore, the U.S. wants to gain the trust of Muslims in
Indonesia, it must learn to understand and appreciate the
thoughts and feelings of others.

This has not been America's strong point. Its present failure
to secure the cooperation of the Iraqi people is one very clear
proof of this weakness. But if it cannot overcome its
shortcomings, America cannot hope to receive the understanding
and sympathy of others, not even by bribing them with its
superior material and financial capabilities.

Although Indonesia will not become a caliphate of the 21st
century considering that most Muslims are not in favor of
replacing the Republic with an Islamic state, it will not be easy
for America to have the majority of Indonesians side with it as
long as it does not change its attitude vis-a-vis the world, and,
in particular, Islam.