HTML pages
designed &
maintained by
Alifuru67
Copyright ©
1999/2001 -
1364283024
& 1367286044
|
|
|||||
|
|
||||
Asia Times (atimes.com), October 20, 2001
Will Indonesia's leader please step forward
By Bill Guerin
JAKARTA - With the United States-led "coalition" intent on justifying the end with the means, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has become little more than an observer at home as stances harden, public figures do 180-degree turns, and everyone, but everyone, wants to be seen and heard.
On Sunday, Megawati, responding to implicit and explicit pressures from sections of the local media, legislators, mainstream Muslim groups and even her Vice President Hamzah Haz, finally spoke out and criticized the bombing offensives.
True to her Javanese culture, which she is so proud of and through which a "yes" may often mean no, based on the admirable tenet that the Javanese do not like delivering bad news, the enigmatic Megawati said, "No individual, group or government has the right to try to catch terrorist perpetrators by attacking the territory of another country." Could she possibly mean America?
The plight of displaced Afghans, and those civilians who die as a result of the massive bombing offensive, will ultimately determine the limits and boundaries of the official Indonesian stance. Even to Indonesia's 180 million Muslims, largely passive and content in the emancipated freedom of their gentle, tolerant version of the ancient religion of Isam, it is a hard sell to convince Muslim intellectuals, let alone simple people, that what is going on now is the "civilized West fighting for the good of mankind, including Indonesians".
US President George W Bush and his action men are increasingly trapped between their desperate need to build credence through an international coalition, the dawning knowledge that they are indeed involved in an ultra-complex military scenario, the need to support the anti-Taliban forces, and most of all the frightening thought that the Kraken has awoken. Not the mythical Kraken sea monster of centuries ago, but the horrifyingly real-life one personified by Osama bin Laden.
Much more akin to Samuel Huntington's fantasies in the Clash of Civilizations. No more communists under the bed, glasnost and perestroika, a long period of peace then? No, said Huntington, the enemy is Islam. Indonesia, it turns out, has it's own Kraken, Indonesian Muslims' unfettered sympathy and brotherhood with Muslims all over the world, which lay dormant awaiting a cause. Bush's wrong-footed call for a "crusade" against terrorism cranked up the hatred, and gave thousands of unemployed Indonesian youths, albeit Muslims, the opportunity to make some "demo attendance money" in support of a cause which they need not attempt to understand.
Megawati was welcomed to the Oval Room in Washington last month as the perfect medium to elicit an endorsement for the coming campaign of attrition against an enemy who is here, there and everywhere all at the same time. After all, as leader of the largest Muslim country in the world, her full frontal support for a unilateral action outside of an official UN consensus, was a real chance for the US to get the moral high ground, Muslim wise, from the outset.
And so it seemed. Megawati beamed her way back to Indonesia with promises of US largess, without having to commit in any way other than agree with the clarion call to go into battle against terrorism.
Did Megawati not imagine what that was going to entail? There was no document, no fine print to read. It was, as the Western world thought, an acknowledgement of Megawati's legitimacy and an indication that Indonesia might, at long last, and by hook or by crook, have won a true leader in the lottery of Indonesian politicking.
Alas, back in the land of the shadow puppets, the storm clouds were gathering even before Megawati touched down in Tokyo, in her admirable mission to promote her country to the world's second economic superpower and long-time friend of Indonesia, Japan.
Widespread demonstrations were being organized by the Islamic radicals, mainly the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which, since Suharto's downfall have risen like a shadow in white, raiding night clubs, bars and restaurants, attacking other religious groups and, of course, "sweeping" for Americans.
Bin Laden's brand of evil gains strength by his cynical appeal to the masses to defend Islam against the attacks of the West. Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi foolishly added fuel to the flames when describing the "superiority" of Western culture over Islam.
Malaysia came down hard on Muslim militants from the start, with veteran Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad sensing the threat to his rule and the stability of his country. He ordered the rounding up and jailing of suspected militants.
In Indonesia, however, a complex mix of cultural factors combined with a real fear of the potency of Islamic fundamentalism, go some way to explain why the government and the police steadily lost ground against the Islamic radicals.
Sofyan Jacoeb, the Jakarta police chief, promised to detain the vocal FPI leader, Habib M Rizieq. By not carrying it out, he may have cost an extra day or two of protests
It all came to a head after a week of testing the water. After the bloody clashes of this Monday outside parliament, the talking heads got together. Even the media, condemned by many for a materialist approach in looking for only the sensational, looked on in amazement at one photo call of the Minister of Religious Affairs with the FPI's Rizieq, beside him, sullenly looking on.
This was at a media conference hosted by the minister himself, Said Agiel Munawar, who wants to claim credit for the sudden volte face of the FPI which, after days of threatening to hunt down Americans and seize American assets, is now saying that it will sue the police for the mistreatment of FPI protesters on Monday.
All of a sudden the FPI was on the run, surrounded by lawyers and doctors and claiming that the police had violated their human rights. The FPI sought the sanctuary of the law, for the first time ever. This is no mean achievement, given the images of the widespread and violent anti-American demonstrations spreading from Pakistan to Indonesia and from the West Bank to Malaysia.
"Let the law be the 'commander'. I also appeal to all activists throughout the country not to make Monday's incident a reason to take offensive actions," Rizziq straightfacedly told the media conference.
The mainstream of Indonesia watchers had wondered if Megawati, Bush's most favorite president, would succumb to the potent forces of such militant Muslim elements, ultra-nationalists and anti-American forces seeking to topple her? Or would Indonesia be taken over by militant fundamentalists?
Few in Indonesia think this is likely, believing instead that the wisdom of letting the noisy protests run their course had a lot to commend it. The game was to make sure the then US ambassador Robert Gelbard, and, to a lesser degree, his British counterpart, Richard Gozney, could sleep at night knowing their citizens and assets were safe from what looked to be a real threat.
There is reason now for some optimism. The Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, has deplored "sweeping". Rizzieq has publicly stated that FPI members had not searched for foreigners and would not do so in the future. "There is no 'sweeping' against expatriates here. There is no evidence of it. The issue is only talk," he added.
Indonesia is running with the mainstream Muslim stance adopted by the Organization of Islamic Conference's leaders, but this may not be enough. Dissenting voices among the orthodox Muslim community pepper the dialogue. They want Megawati to come out with a harder line against the US.
The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), which had condoned calls for a jihad to support Afghanistan in the name of religious solidarity, has now modified its demands that the government freeze diplomatic ties with the US. "It's only a symbolic demand to make Indonesia independent from the hegemony of any world power," MUI secretary Din Syamsuddin explained on Tuesday
However, in a not so veiled hint to the leading lady, the MUI now says that "Indonesia should be more independent from world powers as Bung Karno [Indonesia's first president Sukarno] always strived for."
As Megawati will stand or fall on her success, or otherwise, in getting the economy on track, any movement, even marginally, toward non-alignment and nationalism, is a most unlikely option.
Megawati skirts round the issue, and believes that jihad should not be a narrow interpretation of physical war, but rather jihad in its fundamental meaning, striving against evil and ignorance for the common good. The Laskar Jundullah, the Laskar Pembela Islam, KISDI, Hammas, the Anti-Zionist Movement (Gerakan Anti Zionis: GAZA), the Islamic Defenders Ababil Movement (Gerakan Ababil Pembela Islam) and the Muslim Movement (Gerakan Muslimah) are just some of the groups who disagree with her.
Washington, obviously concerned with the lack of straight talking from Megawati, diplomatically put a brave face on it, with White House spokesman Ari Fleischer telling Indonesian Metro TV, "I think we are intent on having the type of relationship with Indonesia which befits the United States and the largest Muslim country in the world ... but I think it will be up to Indonesians to decide if they want to partner with us. You and your countrymen will have to come to your own minds about this."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard was more blunt. His criticism that Megawati had backed down on its pledge to the US to join the fight against terrorism drew a stinging rebuke from People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais. He said that Howard's statement was "a mere political tool" being used for domestic consumption since Howard was lagging behind his rival, the Labor Party's Kim Beazley in the run-up to national elections in November.
Former Indonesian ambassador to Washington, Hasnan Habib, has urged the president to explicitly call for an end to the attacks in Afghanistan and "formalize her criticism". Hasnan highlights the dilemma for Megawati when he says that as a country guided by a "free and active" foreign policy, Indonesia must not follow the policy of superpower states, and must consider the views of Muslims throughout the world.
The monopoly English language Jakarta Post, in a brand new editorial stance, said on Thursday, "By leaving on Wednesday and spending two nights in Hong Kong, Megawati demonstrates not only her virtual ignorance of the real magnitude of the crisis she is facing ..."
However, as the lady herself jets off to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai, along with husband Taufik Kiemas and an entourage of 127, she leaves behind a struggling and confused nation.
What they have needed since May 1998, when 32 years of benign dictatorship came to an end, is a leader who is a true leader, one who will stand on the front line and lead them out of recession, give them back a belief in the sanctity of their country's law and encourage the return of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious state that Megawati's father, Sukarno, gave them in 1945.
All levels of society share a common fear - the nightmare scenario that would ensue when religion becomes a divisive parameter. The level of fear is enhanced when the question is no longer are you a pribumi (indigenous Indonesian), but are you a Muslim pribumi?
As the Jakarta Post notes, "Following the US-British strikes on Afghanistan, most Indonesian leaders have totally changed tactics ... Megawati's potential rivals have now seemed to opt for silence, avoiding any blunder on the way to the 2004 presidential election. Politicians ranging from MPR Speaker Amien Rais to House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, have suddenly adopted Megawati's customary silence as a recipe for self-protection in these politically sensitive moments ..."
Well, if Megawati is retreating into her customary silence and other national figures do the same, who will speak out on behalf of 210 million people facing perhaps the most critical period in their country's history?
Not Vice President Hamzah Haz, who commands little respect in that position, but has been able to capitalize on the fact that the administration he is a part of sat on the fence for so long. Substantial political mileage awaits his United Development Party (PPP) with it's "no more capitulation to American demands" platform.
(c)2001 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
Copyright © 1999-2001 - Ambon Berdarah On-Line * http://www.go.to/ambon
HTML pages designed and maintained by Alifuru67 * http://www.oocities.org/baguala67
Send your comments to alifuru67@egroups.com