washingtonpost.com, Friday, October 7, 2005
In Indonesia, Songs Against Terrorism
By Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and C. Holland Taylor
The latest suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali appear to have been carried
out by young Indonesian Muslims indoctrinated in an ideology of hatred. Once again
the cult of death has proved its ability to recruit misguided fanatics and incite them to
violate Islam's most sacred teachings in the very name of God. The only way to break
this vicious cycle is by discrediting the perverse ideology that underlies and motivates
such brutal acts of terrorism.
One of us, Abdurrahman Wahid, was Indonesia's president when tragic violence
inundated the eastern region of Ambon and the Malukus six years ago. A seemingly
trivial argument between a Christian bus driver and a Muslim passenger in early 1999
triggered a bloody religious war that eventually claimed 10,000 lives and drove a
half-million Christian and Muslim inhabitants from their homes. Radical Muslims from
throughout Indonesia flocked to the region to wage jihad on Indonesian Christians,
backed by powerful Islamist generals and plenty of money.
The largest such group was Laskar Jihad ("Warriors of Jihad"), led by an Indonesian of
Arab descent whose ancestors came from the same province in Yemen as those of
Osama bin Laden. Jafar Umar Thalib is a veteran of the Afghan jihad and knows bin
Laden personally. Backed by spiteful generals close to the disgraced Suharto regime,
Thalib sounded the call to jihad, and thousands of young Muslims flocked to his green
banner to slaughter Indonesian Christians in the name of God.
Enjoying powerful clandestine support, Laskar Jihad had actually established a
military training camp less than 60 miles from the capital, Jakarta. When national
police broke up the camp, Thalib promptly announced that Laskar Jihad would sail for
Ambon and wage jihad there. I (Wahid) ordered the army generals in East Java to
prevent them from sailing and ordered the navy to intercept them if they did. I also
ordered the governor of East Java to guard the docks and prevent Laskar Jihad from
boarding. But these presidential orders were ignored by a military that refused to
accept civilian control in the newly democratic Indonesia. An unholy alliance of
fundamentalist jihadists, Islamist generals and people close to the Suharto family
ensured that thousands of Laskar Jihadists poured into Ambon and the Malukus.
Once there, they spread out in the Muslim communities and launched devastating
raids on neighboring Christian enclaves, burning and desecrating churches; destroying
homes; and slaughtering thousands of men, women and children.
All of Indonesia knew what was happening. It was in the news day and night. Laskar
Jihad became a symbol and a byword for the suffering inflicted upon that region. The
goal of its clandestine backers -- and those in parliament itself -- was to create chaos
and block the reform that desperately needed to occur in the Indonesian government.
They succeeded; the process of reform ground to a halt.
Then came the first Bali bombing in 2002, with jihadists incinerating a popular club
and more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists. Although that attack was the work
of a different jihadist group, Jemaah Islamiah, it was obvious that the military -- by
then in the hands of "red," or nationalist, generals allied to my successor, Megawati
Sukarnoputri -- would crack down on all active jihadist groups. Immediately afterward,
Thalib announced that Laskar Jihad had served its purpose, and he recalled its
warriors to Java. Thousands of battle-hardened jihadists returned to Java's towns and
villages to await his further call.
One of the people watching this tragedy unfold was a brilliant young musician named
Ahmad Dhani. Leader of the immensely popular rock band Dewa, Dhani began to use
his musical platform to influence millions of fans in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia
to resist the tide of religious extremism.
In response to Laskar Jihad's atrocities, and to discredit the appeal of fundamentalist
ideology, Dhani composed the best-selling album "Laskar Cinta" ("Warriors of Love").
Released in November 2004, it quickly rose to the top of the charts as millions of
young Indonesians embraced its message of love, peace and tolerance.
Dhani and the other members of Dewa have presented Indonesia's youth with a stark
choice, and one easy for the vast majority to answer: Do they want to join the army of
jihad, or the army of love? In response, numerous radical Muslim groups have
accused Dhani -- who is a devout Sufi, or mystically inclined Muslim -- of being an
infidel, an apostate (code words inciting violence) and a Zionist agent. They have
hauled him into court on charges of defaming Islam and seek to ban his use of rock
music to promote a spiritual and progressive interpretation of Islam that threatens the
appeal of their own Wahhabi-inspired extremism.
Yet rather than be intimidated, Dhani recently announced to the Indonesian press his
plan to launch another "ideological smart bomb" -- in the form of a song that uses the
revelatory tone of the Koran to declare: "Truth dwells in the hearts of those who love
and are free of hatred; the hearts of those who hate . . . are possessed by Satan."
Dhani and his group are on the front lines of a global conflict, defending Islam from its
fanatical hijackers. In a world all too often marred by hatred and violence committed in
the name of religion, they seek to rescue an entire generation from Wahhabi-financed
extremists whose goal is to transform Muslim youth into holy warriors and suicide
bombers. For every young Indonesian seduced by the ideology of hatred and
fanaticism -- including those responsible for the recent, awful attacks in Bali --
countless others see through the extremists' web of lies and hatred, in no small part
thanks to the visionary courage of people like Ahmad Dhani. For as they listen to
Dewa's music, the hearts of millions of young Indonesians have been inspired to
declare: "No to the warriors of jihad! Yes to the warriors of love!"
Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid is a former president of Indonesia. From 1984 to 1999
he headed Nadhlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization, with nearly 40
million members. C. Holland Taylor is chairman and chief executive of Libforall
Foundation, a nonprofit that works to reduce religious extremism and discredit the use
of terrorism. Dhani serves on the foundation's board. The authors can be reached
atmedia@libforall.org.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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