Stanley Weiss is reknowed business consultant who travels widely in Asia. He is a proponent of Indonesian democracy and is fond of Bali. His message in this article is that a tolerant and pluralistic Indonesia is possible so long as political and economic empowerment reaches to the majority of the Muslim poor.
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Indonesia: Why Pluralism will Prevail .
By Stanley Weiss. Business Executive for National Strategy.
You could be forgiven for thinking that Indonesia, long admired as a beacon of Muslim moderation, is descending into an Islamic theocracy.
Christian churches are torched. Western resorts, hotels and embassies are bombed. Abu Bakar Bashir, the radical cleric imprisoned for inspiring the Bali bombings of 2002, receives a hero’s welcome home from fellow jihadists.
Across the country, more than two dozen cities and districts have imposed variations of Shariah, Islamic law, requiring women to wear headscarves and banning alcohol, gambling and adultery.
But a visit with Dr. Zulkieflimansyah (who, like many Indonesians, uses one name and is more commonly known as Zul) reveals the more complex face of political Islam here.
As vice chairman of the Justice and Prosperity Party, a rapidly- growing Islamic party with two cabinet ministers, Zul speaks of the need for an “Islamic moral code” in a country that is more than 80 percent Muslim.
But the 34-year-old British-trained economist equivocates when I ask if his party will push for Shariah: “This is difficult. If we say no, we will be rejected by the Muslims. If we say yes, there are too many definitions of Shariah.”
So Zul, now a gubernatorial candidate whose running mate is a well-known actress-turned-politician, speaks of fighting corruption and poverty and creating jobs and investment. “All this can be considered Shariah,” he says. “We are not trying to create a new society like the Arabs. Pluralism is a fact of life, and radical Islam is our enemy.”
Zul’s deft balancing act mirrors that of Indonesia – the country with the world’s largest Muslim population but which, as a state, is officially neither secular nor Islamic.
After proclaiming independence in 1945, attempts to forge an Islamic state were thwarted when nationalists removed from the new constitution the famous “seven words” – “with obligation for Muslims to practice Shariah.”
Instead, the official ideology of Pancasila – “five pillars”: belief in one God, humanitarianism, national unity, democracy and social justice – was a quintessentially Indonesian compromise, acknowledging the role of religion in public life while guaranteeing the freedom of six state-recognized faiths: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
Ever since, attempts to create an Islamic state or impose Shariah nationally, whether by bullet or ballot, have been soundly defeated. As recently as 2002, parliament overwhelmingly rejected amending the constitution to allow for Shariah.
Defeated nationally, Islamists have gone local, empowered by a decentralization movement allowing greater regional autonomy – most notably in conservative Aceh, where canings of Shariah offenders have drawn international condemnation.
But “Aceh does not represent Indonesia,” as an Australian diplomat told me. In a nation of 240 million people, Shariah in a few cities and districts is an aberration. In fact, there already are signs of a backlash against Shariah among Indonesian Muslims, who largely espouse a less rigid form of Islam that blends Hinduism, Buddhism and Javanese mysticism.
“Democracy can be noisy,” Vice President Jusuf Kalla tells me, but in Indonesia “there are far more moderates than radicals.”
Indeed, a major poll last month showed that the vast majority of Indonesians reject Shariah and still embrace Pancasila. But in treating the symptoms of extremism, Jakarta must not ignore underlying causes.
With 40 million chronically unemployed and perhaps 100 million living in poverty, “we are running out of time,” says Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, who oversees a military that considers itself a guardian of constitutional pluralism.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, accused of being indecisive on the economic front, now appears to understand the urgency. Jakarta is alive with rumors that he plans a dramatic “October Surprise,” reshuffling his cabinet, with an eye toward a bold New Deal-style program to create jobs and combat poverty.
The murderous acts and militant agenda of a radical few here are making headlines. But historically, culturally, religiously and politically, Indonesians give hope that the center will hold – that they will succeed in what Sudarsono calls “the big challenge of daring young Muslims not to die for Islam, but to live for Islam.”
The problem of “living for islam” then, would lead us straight to the core of Contemporary Indonesian Definition of Islam.
How could we communicate this moderation effect for the non-moslems and perhaps even exclusivity that only moslems were obliged to practice Shariah?
people in higher educations might find little problem in assessing and re-contextualizing shariah, but how about their brothers who weren’t that lucky and already confounded with their problem of earning today’s rice?
this would be a nation-wide ideological reformation, and knowing indonesia, i doubt its effect would be as intended.
Sir,
I think although we have a lot more moslems than non-moslems, we are culturally a lot better in personality than other parts of world. In my theoritical view (I might be wrong), the radicals is actually coming from Injustice and Economical situation. People are tired of being in poverty and jobless. This is the situation where it all started. They can’t fight to government nor complain (to who?).
So I guess a small part of them express their psychological view into “jihad”, which is actually expressing their disappointment of life and injustice and turning their disappointment to “someone” else (which couldn’t be blamed under current law). When one is in wealthy situation, they tend to spend their time in education or more logical and analytical thoughts. But some people just can’t be changed into good people.
Our people are much better in personality coz we have what in Javanese word “Nerimo”, which means accepting the current situation over and over. Given the same economical situation, many people in most parts of the world will be much less forgiving. If we could successfully aim for economic supremity, I believe things will be much easier.
I wonder why the government didn’t have any great platform or results till now (may be because of limited annual budget?). Our local investors are much more than capable to change things around. Some collaboration or negotiations will do wonders (tax cut or other incentives like that to do significant growth and to create much more jobs).
Hmm, isn’t this sort of thing comparable then to the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Socialists of Germany (which are currently major ruling coalitions) … who are not usually accused of imposing fundamentalism?
I think it is often a case of systemic bias – one that I did not realise upon reading your post (which is why I think it is very insightful).
The western world never gets horrified at the fact that the CDU rules Germany while they easily get horrified at the idea of syariah, which can be attributed to ignorant attitudes.
Dear My Minister..
When we all deal with pluralism, i don’t think we have to compromise with our own religious principles such as syariah. The idea of pluralism itself, in my humble opinion, will result in respecting other ideas. In our beloved country, the people are not yet well-educated to feel fine about differences among them.
The effect is that we cannot communicate our rights in a legal way, a respectable way. Then we begin to claim who’s right and who’s not right.
I think that’s indonesian moslems’ fault. If they could communicate the idea of syariah to the non-moslems in a wise manner, then syariah will then be acceptable among indonesian people. And definitely pluralism will still prevail.
kata sijapah gerangan itoe boeng ?
Pak Juwono, IMHO we are taking a big risk here by asuming that the answer is “reaching to the the majority of the muslim poor politically and economically”. The system in Indonesia are already too complicated -if not to say corrupt. So many changes must be made, or we will loose trust from the people (or have we?).
Why syariah suddenly became an issue after all this time? Yes, some muslim hardliners must have brought it up again as a result of the emerging ‘trends of reformasi’. But it could also be possible that upon exposed to the systems of syariah, many think that it promised a better, fair and most of all a just system to compare with the current system.
Salam, dan maaf. Pertama saya agak mendingan dalam membaca teks Inggris, namun agak sulit untuk mengungkapkan pikiran saya dgn pas dalam bahasa itu. Saya berharap ke depan situs ini bisa menampilkan konten yg serupa bilingually. AhmadinejaD bahkan menggunakan more than two langgs.
Agak confused jadinya, tulisan2 disini apa cuma menampilkan apa adanya tulisan orang lain; ataukah merupakan juga ideas yang sejalan dengan nilai2 yg diyakini Pak Dar?!
Karena pada paragraf awal menceritakan gereja yg diharubiru tapi mengabaikan realitas di ambon pada hari pertama lebaran orang islam diamuk massa”merah”. Dan segala, ustad Abu yg disambut as a hero by jihadists. Ngga cover both sides. Unfair!
And Dr. Zul, if he doesnt wanna fight for shariah, people better ask for his faith for more.
Oke, Pak Dar. Semoga situs ini bisa berkontribusi banyak dalam mencerdaskan pembacanya.