Paras Indonesia, August, 07 2006 @ 09:07 pm
Say No To Religious Extremism! Say No To Israeli Aggression!
By: Suhadi Cholil
The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian militant group that demanded
the release of their comrades in Israel jails had sparked the anger of the Tel Aviv
government. This crisis brought about Israel's aggression to Palestine to Lebanon.
More than 700 people were killed during three weeks of the aggression. Most of them
were civilians, women, children, and the elderly who actually should have been
protected in all conflict situations, according to the international human rights
conventions. Among the victim is an Indonesian woman. The Israeli aggression,
supported by the United States, has invited world condemnations, including from
people and government of Indonesia.
It's interesting to note that almost all the Indonesian responses toward the Israeli
aggression, including many those of Muslim groups, were manifested through peace
movements. Of course, we can still find some exceptions, such as the sweeping of
foreigners by a small group of student protestors in Makassar on July 26, 2006. There
was also the Muslim youth leader Suaib Didu who claimed that hundreds of members
of the newly-formed Palestine Jihad Bombing Troops are leaving to attack countries
supporting Israel.
In most other cases, however, many Muslim groups in Indonesia are hand in hand
with their non-Muslim brothers and sisters in their disapproval of Israeli aggression.
They have demanded that the Indonesian government to play stronger role in the
International diplomatic resolution, and press the United Nations, the Islamic
Conference Organization, ASEAN and International Red Cross, to stop the Israeli
aggression.
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, the two biggest Indonesian Muslim
organizations, as well as Persatuan Gereja-Gereja di Indonesia (PGI), the biggest
Indonesian Churches union, joined the condemnation of this human violence.
The Kompas daily, an influential Indonesian newspaper managed by a Catholic group,
published on July 15 a statement by Pope Benedictus XVI who said that Israel is
attacking the dignity of the state of Palestine. The Vatican worried that the Israeli
aggression would lead to an international conflict. Twenty-two Indonesian inter-faith
figures went to the UN office branch in Jakarta on July 28, 2006 to question why the
UN Security Council could not stop the aggression.
The cases above indicate a significant lesson learned by Indonesians on how Muslims
here do not always draw a parallel relation between religions and political crises.
We realize that some Sunni Muslims and Christians in Lebanon are angry that
Hizbollah, a religious extremist group, has pulled them into the war, and destroyed
their lives and economical prospects for years to come. After succeeding the national
election in Palestine in January 2006, Hamas (Harakah al-Muqâwamah al-Islâmiyah)
decided to ask for intifâdhah (armed resistance) and refuse peaceful diplomatic
solution to solve its complicated problems with Israel.
I strongly oppose the US-backed Israeli aggression to Palestine, Lebanon and other
states in the Middle East. I hate wars and military aggressions.
However, I also hate religious extremism.
We are aware that what occurred in the Middle East now is, on one hand, a conflict
between the interests of the Israeli and the Hamas-Hizbollah. On the other, the
conflict is between the conservative religious groups in Israel with the conservative
religious groups in Palestine and Lebanon.
I'm worried that if the war doesn't stop soon, then, it would translate into the rise of the
extremism spirit among Indonesian religious groups.
Copyright (c) 2005 - PT Laksamana Global International. All rights reserved
|
