Muslim Extremism in Indonesia

[studiodekadent]

The country of Indonesia is not in the Mideast, however the topic "Mideast" seems more or less intertwined with Islamic Fundamentalism and as such I think this is the most appropriate section for this discussion.

Now, lets inject some context here. I am from Australia, which is situated just south of Indonesia. Indonesia is the world's most populated Muslim country. Indonesia also has its own problems with Islamic radicalism, which were shown by the Bali Bombings. Bali, a traditionally Hindu province, is a popular holiday spot, and an Islamic terrorist group attacked a popular nightclub there, which killed a lot of foreigners, including many Australians.

Radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir advocates the imposition of Sharia law on Indonesia. Indonesia also has a number of provinces run under Sharia.

Naturally, there are reasons for both concern and optimism. Concern can be had for the support for Bashir, the imposition of Sharia law in a few provinces, etc. Optimism however does exist. As Irshad Manji shows (http://www.irshadmanji.com/im-beyond-mecca), Arabs only constitute 20% of worldwide Muslims. Arabia as a region is dominated by one ethnic background (Arabs), wheras Indonesia is a very multiracial society. Thus, Indonesia has the potential to produce interpretations of Islam that, instead of being Arabic (and hence anti-cosmopolitan) in nature, are produced for a multiethnic, multi-religious, cosmopolitan society.

Manji's point that radical Islam is dominated by "Arabic" Islam is one that has merit. The bankrollers of worldwide terrorism are the Al Sauds, who fund the training of Qtubist Imams and export them over the world. Fundamentalist Islam's clerics are all trained in Arabia, Qtub was Saudi, all of the 9/11 hijackers were Arabs. Arab civilization has its own particular culture that has been infused into its own particular forms of Islam (just as American conservative 1950s culture still infuses the Evangelical branch of American Christianity). This means that 80% of Muslims are exposed to an Islam that has no relation to their own cultural context. Thus, this 80% are potentially open to reinterpretations of Islam for their world.

As such, I want to hear everyone's viewpoint on Islamic fundamentalism and Indonesia. How should the issue be dealt with in the Indonesian context? What can countries like my own do to encourage Jakarta away from fundamentalism? etc. etc.