|  Fri, 04/04/2008 1:17 AM  |  Opinion

Indonesia's stand on Wilders' 'Fitna'

Anand Krishna ,  Jakarta  

We were all relieved by the statement made by our President on Geert Wilder's film Fitna, which he said had the potential to disrupt harmony in society (The Jakarta Post, April 1, 2008). Well done, Bapak President -- we salute you for your timely decision and prompt action.

Let us hope that in days to come, the President will also take a similar timely stand and measures on other issues which not only have the potential to disrupt harmony but to disintegrate our society.

Take the issue of the sermon of our elderly cleric Abu Bakar Baa'syir on Oct. 22 last year, captured on videotape by Darwin-based political science PhD student Nathan Franklin, who was conducting research at Islamic boarding schools in East Java.

Circulated in the Australian media, the sermon not only spread hatred but also damaged our reputation and threatened our national unity and integrity.

Hopefully Abu Bakar Baa'syir did not really say those words.

However, if the sermon was truly made by the cleric, then our President must also take a stand and measures against him, as he has taken against Geert Wilder and his film.

The call allegedly made by the elderly cleric to "beat up" Western tourists and for young Muslims to die as martyrs can pose a serious set-back to our government's efforts to present Indonesia as a secure place to visit and invest.

Wilder has hurt our feelings, but not he, or for that matter, anyone else, can actually do any damage to our faith. Our faith in Islam as a religion of peace, love and harmony cannot be affected or altered by movies such as Fitna.

We do realize our scriptures need to be reinterpreted. We must be intelligent enough to read between the lines and not confuse the contextual with the universal.

Apparently, both Wilder and Baa'syir confuse the contextual with the universal. The people and the clergies taped by Wilder in his movie live in similar confusion. All of them are in a confused state of mind.

We are living in a country where the majority follows the tenets of Islam. Baa'syir may have a different outlook and different understanding of Islam, but he, and Wilder too, cannot force everybody to endorse his understanding.

Before our government imposed the ban on the movie, I had the chance to watch it on the Internet. There is nothing new in the movie. We humans have the tendency to interpret or misinterpret the scriptures to suit our convenience and interests.

Wilder has done just the same.

But what about Baa'syir? Hasn't he been doing just the same by interpreting the scriptures to endorse his own beliefs and understandings?

Our President has banned both Fitna and its maker, Wilder.

The nation is now asking him, "Pak, what is your stand against Baa'syir and the statements he has been making? You need to answer this question. You owe some answers to the nation and the people of Indonesia".

The cleric reportedly likened non-Muslims to crawling animals, worms, snakes, maggots.

Baa'syir's address contained many direct challenges to Indonesian secularism. The cleric urged his supporters to reject the laws of the nation's parliament and said following state laws that contradicted Islamic Sharia law was an act of "blasphemy".

Bali has been bombed twice by terrorists, the cold-blooded murderers, the black spots on the face of beautiful Islam. At the time of the first bomb, at least one of our senior leaders openly said the bombing would not affect Indonesia on the whole. He was wrong. It did affect Indonesia. The whole nation was hijacked by a group of fanatics.

After years of consistent effort, we were finally able to clean the dirt off our face. We can ill-afford the same ugliness and dirt in future. We have had enough of it.

Once again hoping that the statements mentioned above were not made by Baa'syir, I wonder what would happen if he actually did make them.

If the President does not immediately take a firm stand against the spreading of hatred in the name of religion and ideological extremism, the united nation of Indonesia may soon enter into the mist of history.

It is the right time to act, and act wisely in favor of the nation and national unity.

The writer is a spiritual activist. His websites are aumkar.org, californiabali.org and anandkrishna.org.