We now understand that the crashing twin towers, a scene seemingly choreographed to perfection and to the collective horror of Americans, was not the beginning of a new era. But it is etched in Americans' memories as such, much like in the 60's, on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, or when Marthin Luther King's life was cut short, remembering where they were, what they were doing, just before the phone rang and we were told by our friends to hurry up, turn on the news.
The images of Ground Zero in the making touched our televisions screens and played at least a dozen times over before we turned away, still frantic voices heard somewhere in the distance, jumbled over the neighbor's radio. We had looked in morbid fascination, disbelieving, wanting to fool ourselves into thinking we were at the cinema watching just another Hollywood flick, yet fully understanding during those horrible moments it was real, perhaps too real, with whisperings that nothing would be the same again, and innocence was lost.
After the debris was settled, it was the historians and talking heads who told us that 9/11 was not the very beginning, just another chapter in a long story that opened with the homecoming of jihadists from the jagged mountains of Afghanistan. We had beat the Russians, they lost their empire, dismantled their nukes, and the Washington Establishment said that this was the End of History, liberal democracy was the 'end state' of mankind, and the whole world was now heading in that direction. With communism firmly in the dustbin, Francis Fukayama could easily persuade us all that Marx had it backwards.
Anyway, this is what we believed. We forgot, unfortunately, there was still another 'them'.
The radical Islamists had a Big Idea: They had an ideology and even a holy scripture for claiming their righteousness. Now, instead of Karl Marx it was the Prophet Muhammad, replacing Das Kapital with the Koran, central planning with shariah.
But the Americans were ready. The neoconservatives - Wolfowitz, Perle and Company - and a willing accomplice named Bush, had an entirely different Big Idea as well. They had bought into Fukayama's argument that the End of History was coming, but contrary to Fukayama, they believed that they could shape history, bringing democracy to the world even faster.
The radicals of the Islamic world already had their own Fukayama, a man named Sayyeb Qutb. His seminal work, Milestones, written in a prison cell in Egypt before he was hung at the gallows in 1966, called the faithful to arms in order to restore the law of Allah. To this day, the jihadist faithful are fond of quoting Qutb, and it is he - not Osama bin Laden - who is considered the Godfather of the international jihadist movement.
Where this will all end, we are not quite sure. Iraq is still in flames, and the violence is unlikely to die down anytime soon, surge or no surge. The neoconservatives are now joining Marx in the proverbial dustbin. The Europeans, after having cleansed themselves of clericalism and ideology and two world wars on their soil, have watched the drama of the war on terror with great dismay. Soon, the coalition of the willing few shall become a coalition of one. In the US, the Democrats are blaming the Republicans, the Republicans are blaming the Iraqis. When the US Congress finally does cut the financial cord, American troops start withdrawing and Iraq further unravels, then it will be the Republicans' chances to blame the Democrats for running and an opportunity for the Democrats to point their fingers at the Iraqis.
For Indonesia, public opinion polls on post-9/11 issues are clear on several counts. Indonesians - like most of the world - simply don't like Bush and his foreign policy, and they want American troops to leave Iraq. Still, they like Americans, and admire many aspects of their culture.
Here is the good news. It is also clear from polls that most Indonesians do not like radical Islamists. Shortly after 9/11, they found it hard to believe the disaster was somehow not part of some conspiracy hatched by the CIA. When suicide bombers started causing havoc on their home soil, slowly but surely the average Indonesian came to understand that radical Islamists were not the product of somebody's imagination, but rather a real threat. The fact more Indonesians died than foreigners in the Bali and Jakarta bombings turned the tide. Ask the average Indonesian now, and he will tell you, Osama is a bad man. Amen.
While America's challenge is to come to terms with imminent withdrawal and what happens thereafter in the Middle East, Indonesia's challenge will be how it will deal with radical Islamism.
Most Indonesians have been born and raised in a secular culture. Opinion polls show that the overwhelming majority of Indonesians would not vote for an Islamist presidential candidate. Neither do they want shariah embedded into national law.
Can we say with confidence that secularism is here to stay? More than likely, yes. More and more Indonesians are turning to religion in their homes, but that does not mean they want imams in control of their lives. We should not confuse piety with a desire for an Islamic caliphate.
Still, Indonesia's secular leaders must proceed with caution. If Indonesia is to stay a liberal democracy, then the government must deliver a better life for its citizens. It is worth noting that the only countries where radicals have gained a foothold - such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Somalia, for example - were failed states. Good governance and a strong economy are the strongest possible antidotes to radicalism. If nothing else, this is a lesson that Indonesia's leaders should firmly keep in mind in today's post 9/11 world.
The images of Ground Zero in the making touched our televisions screens and played at least a dozen times over before we turned away, still frantic voices heard somewhere in the distance, jumbled over the neighbor's radio. We had looked in morbid fascination, disbelieving, wanting to fool ourselves into thinking we were at the cinema watching just another Hollywood flick, yet fully understanding during those horrible moments it was real, perhaps too real, with whisperings that nothing would be the same again, and innocence was lost.
After the debris was settled, it was the historians and talking heads who told us that 9/11 was not the very beginning, just another chapter in a long story that opened with the homecoming of jihadists from the jagged mountains of Afghanistan. We had beat the Russians, they lost their empire, dismantled their nukes, and the Washington Establishment said that this was the End of History, liberal democracy was the 'end state' of mankind, and the whole world was now heading in that direction. With communism firmly in the dustbin, Francis Fukayama could easily persuade us all that Marx had it backwards.
Anyway, this is what we believed. We forgot, unfortunately, there was still another 'them'.
The radical Islamists had a Big Idea: They had an ideology and even a holy scripture for claiming their righteousness. Now, instead of Karl Marx it was the Prophet Muhammad, replacing Das Kapital with the Koran, central planning with shariah.
But the Americans were ready. The neoconservatives - Wolfowitz, Perle and Company - and a willing accomplice named Bush, had an entirely different Big Idea as well. They had bought into Fukayama's argument that the End of History was coming, but contrary to Fukayama, they believed that they could shape history, bringing democracy to the world even faster.
The radicals of the Islamic world already had their own Fukayama, a man named Sayyeb Qutb. His seminal work, Milestones, written in a prison cell in Egypt before he was hung at the gallows in 1966, called the faithful to arms in order to restore the law of Allah. To this day, the jihadist faithful are fond of quoting Qutb, and it is he - not Osama bin Laden - who is considered the Godfather of the international jihadist movement.
Where this will all end, we are not quite sure. Iraq is still in flames, and the violence is unlikely to die down anytime soon, surge or no surge. The neoconservatives are now joining Marx in the proverbial dustbin. The Europeans, after having cleansed themselves of clericalism and ideology and two world wars on their soil, have watched the drama of the war on terror with great dismay. Soon, the coalition of the willing few shall become a coalition of one. In the US, the Democrats are blaming the Republicans, the Republicans are blaming the Iraqis. When the US Congress finally does cut the financial cord, American troops start withdrawing and Iraq further unravels, then it will be the Republicans' chances to blame the Democrats for running and an opportunity for the Democrats to point their fingers at the Iraqis.
For Indonesia, public opinion polls on post-9/11 issues are clear on several counts. Indonesians - like most of the world - simply don't like Bush and his foreign policy, and they want American troops to leave Iraq. Still, they like Americans, and admire many aspects of their culture.
Here is the good news. It is also clear from polls that most Indonesians do not like radical Islamists. Shortly after 9/11, they found it hard to believe the disaster was somehow not part of some conspiracy hatched by the CIA. When suicide bombers started causing havoc on their home soil, slowly but surely the average Indonesian came to understand that radical Islamists were not the product of somebody's imagination, but rather a real threat. The fact more Indonesians died than foreigners in the Bali and Jakarta bombings turned the tide. Ask the average Indonesian now, and he will tell you, Osama is a bad man. Amen.
While America's challenge is to come to terms with imminent withdrawal and what happens thereafter in the Middle East, Indonesia's challenge will be how it will deal with radical Islamism.
Most Indonesians have been born and raised in a secular culture. Opinion polls show that the overwhelming majority of Indonesians would not vote for an Islamist presidential candidate. Neither do they want shariah embedded into national law.
Can we say with confidence that secularism is here to stay? More than likely, yes. More and more Indonesians are turning to religion in their homes, but that does not mean they want imams in control of their lives. We should not confuse piety with a desire for an Islamic caliphate.
Still, Indonesia's secular leaders must proceed with caution. If Indonesia is to stay a liberal democracy, then the government must deliver a better life for its citizens. It is worth noting that the only countries where radicals have gained a foothold - such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Somalia, for example - were failed states. Good governance and a strong economy are the strongest possible antidotes to radicalism. If nothing else, this is a lesson that Indonesia's leaders should firmly keep in mind in today's post 9/11 world.
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