Winning hearts and minds to prevent terrorism

Winning hearts and minds to prevent terrorism

Estananto, Frankfurt

Vice President Jusuf Kalla in a recent interview said that the
government would take stronger measures in the war against
terrorism, including taking a closer look at pesantren (Islamic
boarding schools).

This step is to prevent radicalism being taught to young
students. Specifically, Kalla mentioned three names: Imam
Samudra, Sayyid Qutb and Hasan Al-Banna.

In addition, he mentioned also "Khawarijism" as being a
dangerous stream of thought (Gatra, Oct. 24, 2005). Later
however, Kalla said that only two pesantren required intensive
observation. He also denied the existence of Jamaah Islamiyah.

Separately, Hery Haryanto Azumi, chairman of PMII -- an
autonomous youth body of Nahdlatul Ulama that represents many
pesantrens -- told reporters that only 3 percent of approximately
17,000 pesantrens taught radicalism to their students (NU
online). Based on this assumption, this means that approximately
500 pesantren should be looked at by the authorities -- far more
than the mere two mentioned by Kalla. This puts a big question
mark about what exactly is meant by radical teachings and how far
these teachings influence society.

The 33-year-old terrorist Imam Samudra published his
autobiography in August 2004, entitled Aku Melawan Teroris (I
Oppose Terrorists). He wrote his story from childhood to his time
in Afghanistan, an experience that he says turned him into a
"true Muslim".

What has been written by Samudra shows that his personal
understanding of Islam grew from Afghanistan and was far from the
Islamic traditions of Indonesia. Since Indonesia's independence
in 1945, Muslim organizations here have been committed to
democracy.

Although about 90 percent of Indonesians are ostensibly
Muslim, from their very nature most have no desire or intention
to force their religion upon the state. This is because they know
that Islamic law as demanded in the Koran and Hadith could be
substantively -- if not literally -- implemented within a
multicultural society.

In 2002, when the 1945 constitution was to be amended, only
two Islamic parties voted for the "Jakarta Charter" that
explicitly stated that "Muslim citizens should live according
Islamic sharia law". Two other Muslim-based parties, the National
Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) have
rejected this idea. Meanwhile, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)
as a new, young party, proposed the Madina charter as model, that
everyone should be free to practice his/her religion.

This is why many Indonesians do not believe that Indonesia is
a safe haven for terrorists. They cannot believe that some form
of Afghanistan-style jihad could spread to Indonesia, even though
they may have expressed some solidarity with the Afghan people
when they were invaded by the then-Soviet Union.

But from Samudra's story, we can see that the development of
terrorists here is possible.

Afghan "jihad" alumni are not the only ones. In another
context, famous Egyptian scholar Sayyid Qutb, with his monumental
works like Milestones and Under the Shadow of the Koran,
interpreted how a Muslim should draw a line between Islam and
jahiliyya (ignorance, pre-Islamic) in very clear way.

Although it is not proven that Qutb's works spark "license-to-
kill" thinking against those who do not stand "with us", the
pattern seems to be "you're either with us or with them". In
these works, Qutb shows that this polarized approach is a
consequence of Islamic doctrine itself. The background of when
Qutb wrote his works until his death by hanging in 1966 is seldom
openly discussed.

Nasser's regime in Egypt was repressing all opposition, and
this caused Qutb to fight back in the form of radicalism, in
addition to some ideas about "purification" from the Salafists.
Qutb's works spread to Indonesia mainly in the 1980s, with the
publication of an Indonesian translation of The Milestones,
Petunjuk Jalan, in 1980.

Kalla's proposal to ban Qutb's books would be difficult to
carry out in reality. In the 1980s, some illegal Islamic
magazines also publicized Qutb ideas that were freely circulated,
despite strong control from the military-led New Order regime.
The government, with their then-powerful intelligence apparatus,
were not able to watch every corner of the vast Indonesian
archipelago, including youth communities in Java that were very
influential.

Now these same magazines, with more friendly styles, are being
sold freely on the streets. The government can not reverse this;
they can only offer alternatives. When people come to realize
that Qutb's ideas are not proper for Indonesia in the modern
context, they will not be influenced by even more radical
ideology.

The government together with civil society should be more
active in promoting a cultural Islam in Indonesia. It is not a
struggle between secularists and religionists, but rather a front
for discussing how to participate in modern, multicultural
Indonesia.

The government must also clean up the corrupt bureaucracy. If
one is able to have more than one Indonesian ID card with
different addresses and even different names, does anyone have to
wonder why fugitive terrorists like Malaysians Noordin M. Top and
Dr. Azhaari cannot be found?

Fighting against terrorists and the seeds of terrorism is a
multi-faceted war. It is not a question of who should be blamed
yesterday, today, or tomorrow. The challenge is like the classic
tactic of guerrilla war: winning people's hearts, and separating
the terrorists from the people who cover for them.

This tactic was used in West Java when fighting against the
rebellious Darul Islam, and was done in form of so-called pagar
betis" (lit. "fence of people") to prevent rebels fleeing their
positions. The government succeeded in convincing the people that
"Darul Islam" was different from their own Islam. Without this,
the Darul Islam rebellion would never have ended.

The writer is an Indonesian engineer living in Germany.