An Indonesian civil servant who posted “God does not exist” on his Facebook page has been taken into police custody for his own protection after he was badly beaten.

The man, identified as Alexander, 31, now faces the prospect of losing his job, or even being jailed, if he fails to repent and accept one of six official state religions.

via ‘God Does Not Exist’ Comment Ends Badly for Indonesia Man | The Jakarta Globe.

The Indonesian state’s founding principles of Pancasila or the five principles are all very noble and beautiful, except the first one which makes belief in god mandatory, a regressive and backward and more importantly, discriminatory ideal. But the irony is this, a notorious, religious extremist group belonging to the majority, flout the other four brazenly whilst propagating violence and destruction without even a rap on the knuckles and this brave, unfortunate man is going to be demonized and hounded and ruined for violating one as a matter of personal belief. It may be argued that he brought his personal belief into the public sphere via his social media group and his comment/s on it. But the fact of the matter is that he was still just expressing a personal belief without prejudice to anyone who did not subscribe to his opinion. He was not preaching or inciting or spreading violence.

Indonesian Christians believe allah of the Muslims is a false god and only Jesus and their lord are true while Indonesian Muslims say the Christian god and lord are haram and only allah is the true god. So how is Alex wrong when all that he says is that both allah and god are false? Prosecute all Indonesian Christians and Muslims then for violating Pancasila’s first principle.

Are the believers of this world so insecure in their false beliefs to be offended by the mere presence of someone who do not subscribe to their delusions?

Spurred by a post I saw elsewhere on the web I tried out some ‘trend-spotting’ of my own. Interestingly, the country which searches for topics related to ‘sex‘ the most is Pakistan. India comes in at number three and Indonesia at number six. Out of the top ten, six are Muslim majority nations. And the number one city in the list is Bangalore. When it comes to searching about ‘god‘ Philippines comes out on top although the rest of the list is dominated by cities and countries of the developed Western world. The small city state of Singapore is at number five beating the populous nations of India (sixth) and Indonesia (seventh). But funnily enough Philippines also takes the top spot when it comes to searching for ‘atheism‘. The rest of the list is entirely dominated by Western nations with India being the only exception at number nine.

The fact that India features on almost all the trend lists I tried out may have something to do with its large and young population who make up for the world’s third largest in number of Internet users. (China, the largest, of course doesn’t feature in these lists for various reasons!)

If you notice I have refrained from drawing any inferences from these statistics and am merely presenting what I saw. You can draw your own conclusions and try out more keywords at the Google Trends site. And for a perspective on these trends please do also see this chart of the world’s top 20 countries in terms of number of Internet users.

As might be evident from my ramblings, I do not subscribe to any faith other than the faith in the human spirit of free inquiry and skepticism. But I understand the importance of this one day of the year in the lives of a large number of my fellow human beings, amongst whose ranks my wife and her family count themselves. But then there are my other fellow human beings who, by virtue of being members of a different cult, have completely desensitized themselves to the needs of others which are not that much different from their own. I am not taking sides here and I do not believe nor am I suggesting that one is in any way better than the other, but I believe in the rights of human beings to delude themselves in any manner they please as long as that delusion does not harm or hinder another who doesn’t subscribe to the same delusion as them. In other words, I am drawn once more to these immortal words of Voltaire,

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it.”

I guess Indonesia might as well make it all official now – throw away the Pancasila, throw away Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, ban all religions except Islam, proclaim Shariah and finalize the degeneration of a great and diverse nation to an Islamic state.

Where are all the “moderate Muslims” when you need them?

Sitting in the shade of a tree in an empty lot, the congregants raised their hymn books and, in response, the police, lined up in a ragged cordon, raised their riot shields. Sunday service was starting for the local Batak Christian Protestant Church… Across the barricade, enraged young Muslim men in white skullcaps surged forward as the first song in praise of Jesus Christ chimed out. Using their own speakers, they tried to drown out the hymn with their own Arabic chant, “la ilaha ilallah” — there is no god but Allah.

For Indonesian Christians, Gatherings Bring Tension, The New York Times

© Kemal Jufri for The International Herald Tribune

The root of the problem is the fact that in Indonesia, by the Joint Ministerial Decree 1/2006 of the Ministry of Religion, to build any place of worship in a particular area, it is necessary to have a minimum of 90 members and to obtain the support of 60 local residents who are non-members. Now how easy is that in a nearly 90% Muslim majority nation? So minority groups gather in private homes or hotels or shops etc. to conduct their business and are open to allegations of violating the law and in some cases attack from Muslim vigilante groups.

[UPDATE: Church Elder Stabbed in Bekasi Attack
The controversy keeps snow-balling and it might not be surprising if this turns into a major clash. But SBY and his administration is in snooze-mode with a dismal lack of urgency. If only he would show some of the urgency and concern that he did when he wrote to President Obama about the proposed Quran burning by a church in Florida.]

[Dictatorship of the Majority - I is here.]

Majority Pressure

(Photo © Jakarta Globe)

The Constitutional Court of Indonesia, an independent body which reviews existing and new laws passed by the Indonesian government and is supposed to uphold the principles of the Indonesian constitution has dealt a second blow in the space of a month to Indonesia’s pluralism and human rights – the basic tenets of the nation.

Around a month ago came the first strike when it upheld the controversial Anti-pornography bill, which by its vague, archaic, uncertain and misleading definitions and pronouncements opens up a Pandora’s box of misinterpretations and abuse that could threaten women’s rights and minority rights.

Anti-Porn Statute to Remain Law of the Land in Indonesia – Jakarta Globe
Constitutional Court upholds divisive pornography law – The Jakarta Post

And now the second blow by refusing to revise or scrap the 1965 Blasphemy Law which forbids non-mainstream interpretations of the six officially recognised religions. The Law has been routinely used to harass and intimidate minority Islamic sects as well as critics of Islamic hard-liners. The appeal for review of the law was filed by none other than the late former President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid amongst others(including several human rights organizations and progressive Islamic scholar Siti Musdah Mulia).

Constitutional Court Keeps Faith With Indonesia’s Controversial Blasphemy Law – Jakarta Globe
Court upholds Blasphemy Law – The Jakarta Post

The decision though unjust, is hardly surprising as it in line with the wishes of the Muslim majority. There were vigorous demonstrations and attacks on the petitioners by hard-line Muslim groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). As Poengky Indarti of Imparsial, The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor remarked, “The dictatorship of the majority has contributed [to the decision].”

Another factor could well be the composition itself of the panel of judges of the Constitutional Court. Eyebrows were raised when the replacements of two judges in the Court were announced in January – the replacements were both from strong Islamic backgrounds, one a former deputy head of the Religious High Court in Yogyakarta and the other the deputy head of the Islamic Crescent Star Party (PBB). This was controversial and insensitive as one of the judges being replaced was the only Protestant Christian in the panel.

Critic Questions Selection of Constitutional Court Judges – Jakarta Globe

The lone remaining non-Muslim judge in the nine member panel also happens to be a woman, thus truly making her the only voice of the non-majority in the panel. And not surprisingly she was the only dissenting judge in the panel for both of the controversial judgements above. Dr. Maria Farida Indrati is a former Professor of Law from the University of Indonesia and a Catholic.

Maria Farida Indrati: Feminine voice of reason – The Jakarta Post

Dr. Maria Farida Indrati

(Photo © The Jakarta Post)

The woman was gang-raped by the three Sharia policeman during her interrogation… the issue began when Sharia police officers were conducting patrol on the night of Jan. 8, and found a couple on the side of the PTPN-1 Langsa ring road. The police brought the pair to the Sharia police office in Langsa. The suspects then questioned the couple in relation to violating the 2003 Sharia Public Indecency Bylaw.

She is a university student.

It had to happen sooner or later innit?! What happens next? Let’s wait and watch…

Gus Dur was born in an illustrious family. His father was Wahid Hasyim, a hero of Indonesia’s freedom struggle and the first Minister of Religious Affairs in the independent Indonesia. His paternal grandfather, Hasyim Asy’ari was one of the founders of Nahdlatul Ulama(NU), which is now Indonesia’s and probably the world’s largest Islamic organisation. His maternal grandfather Bisri Syansuri, was one of the first Muslim educators to introduce classes for women. With such credentials, little wonder that Gus Dur turned out to be the emancipated man that he was.

As the chairman of NU himself, and as president, Gus Dur fought for what he firmly believed was the right Islam. He had once responded to his critics who questioned his Islamic credentials thus,

“Those who say that I am not Islamic enough should reread their Koran. Islam is about inclusion, tolerance, community.”

The strength of his personal integrity and convictions is borne out by the fact that he often decided to go against popular posturing if he believed he was in the right. He was a lone voice defending author Salman Rushdie, when the entire Muslim population of the world was gunning for his blood. He also believed in reconciliation with Israel, a taboo in the Islamic world. As chairman of NU, he travelled to Israel twice, in 1994 and 1997. In 1997 he accepted a prize in Jerusalem in honour of the assassinated Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin and signed a charter for peace promoted by the Simon Perez Institute in Tel Aviv. During the Holocaust conference in Bali, Indonesia in 2007, which took place thanks to his untiring efforts, he called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, a liar for denying the Holocaust.

His gift to Indonesia’s future was his efforts at bringing the Indonesia military under civilian control and making it accountable to the people, unlike in the past. He also abolished the Ministry of Information, Suharto’s main body aimed at throttling freedom of speech. He was the first to make diplomatic overtures to the insurgents in Aceh and West Papua and displayed his willingness to silence the guns in favour of talks. He gave the Chinese Indonesian minority its voice and identity back by lifting the Suharto era ban on the display of Chinese characters and symbolism and the importing of Chinese publications. He also declared Chinese New Year as a holiday. He visited the former Indonesian territory of East Timor and apologized for Indonesian military’s atrocities and excesses during the Timorese freedom struggle. He also removed Wiranto, a former general, from his cabinet, for his alleged role in the excesses. Through these gestures, he prepared Indonesians for a democracy which enshrines religious tolerance, respect for minority rights and fundamental freedoms.

His presidency though, was marked by uncertainty and impulsive decisions. So much so that, it is reputed that a popular quip in Jakarta in those days used to be – there are three things in this world which are uncertain – life, death and Gus Dur! His tendency to fall asleep at public meetings was another infamous hallmark of his presidency! But he was always jovial and ready with a joke, a famous one being this -Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno was crazy for women; its second, Suharto was crazy for money; its third, Habibie was simply crazy; and he, the fourth just drove everyone crazy!

On a personal side, Gus Dur loved music, especially the Western Classical composer Beethoven. Once long after his presidency, he was asked about what he missed most from those days. He replied,

I don’t prize it too much. The presidency was just a task to finish. I regret more the loss of my collection of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony — 27 CD’s and tapes. The boy that was taking care of it ran away with it, and now I think it’s for sale in the market. So I regret that more. I fired him!

(Source: The New York Times – Indonesia’s Ex-President Expects to Be Restored)

Selamat jalan Gus Dur (Farewell Gus Dur). You will be missed.

(Further reading: Promoting the Good by Abdurrahman Wahid – Gus Dur’s views on Islam, Peace, Democracy and Righteousness)

“All religions insist on peace. From this we might think that the religious struggle for peace is simple… but it is not. The deep problem is that people use religion wrongly in pursuit of victory and triumph. This sad fact then leads to conflict with people who have different beliefs.”

[UPDATE: An excellent article, titled 'The blind man with 20/20 vision' from an Israeli Rabbi who personally knew him.]

In a quite shocking development, the Indonesian province of Aceh has passed a new law which makes adultery punishable by stoning to death. In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume argues that this might just be the start of Indonesia’s regression as a whole to Islamic Sharia based law and the dismantling of the essence of plurality that was injected into the republic’s fundamental principles, the Pancasila ideology, by its founding fathers.

(Indonesians) may soon discover that their westernmost province is merely a few steps ahead of the rest of the country along the same slippery slope toward Shariah

He contends that this news deals a blow to two widely held beliefs – one, that Indonesia, due to its long history and heritage of religious tolerance, cannot go the way of Islamic states in other parts of the world – two, that moderate Muslims have the will and means to defeat fundamentalism. Furthermore, he says,

Aceh’s swift descent toward barbarism is proof that making concessions to Islamists whets rather than sates their appetite.

Pakistan’s Swat Valley’s tryst with the Taliban after the government’s overtures to them is a case in point.

Dhume concludes,

The Spaniard who supports contraception and gay rights can flatly declare that he doesn’t care what the Bible says or what the Pope thinks. An Indonesian who says the same about the Koran and the prophet Muhammad invites charges of “Islamophobia” and threats of violence. Until this changes and Indonesian secularists begin to enjoy the same freedom to criticize religion as their counterparts in the United States, India or South Korea, they will continue to fight with one hand tied behind their back.

Adultery in Aceh - The latest sign of creeping Shariah

—–

“Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?”

Last evening went to the screening of Burma VJ – a very well-made, taut and engrossing documentary which focuses on the undercover reporters in Burma working under great personal threat to bring the images of brutality in their country to the world, the backdrop being last year’s protests that started with the monks, on behalf of the people, and soon became a popular uprising. Though sometimes a subject as strong as this eclipses the film-making, the director Anders Østergaard adds his powerful story-telling technique that resonates with the story to give us an end-product that is touching as well as thrilling. You feel the anticipation and anxieties of the reporters in a very real sense – I had goose-bumps! And you are also saddened at the inevitable end which is best summarised in the words of the narrator, Joshua, one of the reporters himself, (though he is talking about the ‘88 uprising), “So many people died for nothing”.

A highlight of the evening was a video conference with the director at the end of the screening. Amidst the inescapable inane questions from people out to prove their intellectual superiority, there were a few poignant moments. One was a Burmese man living in Singapore who got up to thank the director on behalf of his people. The moment attained greater significance upon personal reflection actually. Living in the comforts of Singapore, if I had to watch such brutality on familiar streets and avenues of my birthplace committed upon my own people, who were not as lucky as me to have escaped, I can very well imagine the sickness I would have felt at the bottom of my stomach. The other special moment was when the director, in answer to a question on how we could contribute, remarked that in a way we are already contributing by keeping the issue alive in the collective memory and conscience of the people of the world. Do not forget Burma and its people. Do not forget Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

(In a humorous aside, the MC last evening was something of a dud, and posed the most number of questions to the director and most of them of the pseudo-intellectual variety. During one of his questions, I forget which one, he started by saying “Living in a free country such as Denmark or Singapore…”. And the whole audience burst into spontaneous laughter! I have no idea why! Wink wink!)

—–

“Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?”

Bomb blasts in Jakarta – one of my favourite cities in the world, if I ignore the legendary traffic jams of course!

JW Marriott – Just next to the hotel and part of the same complex, are the residential apartments Sailendra, which was the address of my boss and her partner, two of my favourite people in Jakarta.

Ritz Carlton – One of my best friends in Jakarta, an amazingly talented pianist, whose website I maintain, used to be a regular performer in the lounge bar there and I do not even remember the number of times I have relaxed to her music sitting in spacious, comfortable couches, after a particularly difficult day at work.

The familiarity of these places which were attacked today probably stirs up the mind in this manner, a mind which is otherwise numb to violence by now. In a similar manner as when Bombay trains were bombed – trains which I have taken home almost every evening for five years – or people were gunned down like cattle at Victoria Terminus – a station that has witnessed many sad farewells and warm welcomes, including a few where I was a player.

But the recurring images in my mind are that of the friendly, helpful and always-smiling Indonesians working at these places – a few of them probably the sole bread-earners of their families. So will the suicide bombers, martyrs in the cause of Islam, reach heaven while thrusting these families, fellow Muslims, to hell on earth? Will some Muslim friend of mine answer me that? Please…

Bali, Bombay, Jakarta, London, Madrid, New Delhi, New York – How many deaths will it take?

Picture courtesy The Jakarta Globe

—–

(The song and the lyrics…)

Jokes apart, I am a serious Amazon fan and I have been buying CDs/DVDs/books from them for at least the last couple of years. And I truly believe there are definite advantages some times. Let me plagiarize from the guide I spoke of above, adding my own insights, to explain to you what they are!

First and foremost for me is their sheer variety! I have often bought titles that I would never find anywhere else or at the very least would find it pretty darn tough to source them. E.g., tapes of T.S. Eliot reciting his own poems, Da Ali G Show – Da Compleet Seereez , Jaco Pastorius Live DVD, a Jack Bruce solo album, Letters Of A Javanese Princess – Kartini’s letters, The Trio of Doom Live (McLaughlin and Pastorius playing together!), Lost interview tapes of Jim Morrison, complete poetry and prose of Chairil Anwar – the list is eclectic and endless!

Second is their customer service. Once I had ordered a few audio CDs and after waiting for double the average shipping time, when my shipment still did not arrive, I wrote to them. They immediately sent me the whole set again, no questions asked! (I ended up receiving two sets though!) They also have excellent return and refund policies in case you are not satisfied with your purchase.

Finally, believe it or not, it actually works out cheaper sometimes to buy on Amazon, even after taking into account the shipping charges. If you are buying a few titles together, you can get even lower shipping costs per item. The logic is simple, you walk into the CD/DVD/book store in your city – half the Western titles there are imported anyways plus the store puts in their operating costs and hefty margins. So do the math!

And of course you can do it all from the comfort of your home or office! So check out my Amazon recommendations or the Amazon ads and start buying through clicks on this page! Come on people, the charity “Keeping Suman drunk” needs your support!