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New Danish cartoon controversy angers local Muslim leaders
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 10/09/2006 8:03 AM
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While condemning a video lampooning the Prophet Muhammad, which was broadcast in Denmark, Muslim leaders here Sunday asked Muslims not to be provoked and suggested the case be taken to an international court.
On Friday, Denmark's national TV2 channel aired excerpts from a video depicting Muhammad as a beer-drinking camel and as a drunken terrorist attacking Copenhagen.
Filmed in August, the video was made by members of the far-right Danish People's Party, which is known for its anti-immigration stance. The video showed people in their 20s and 30s participating in a drawing contest at a summer camp for the Party's youth group and they appeared to have been drinking alcohol.
Video clips of the contest were posted on some Web sites after the annual Aug. 4-6 camp. Nearly all of the dozens of people shown in the videos had their faces blurred, but the images they drew were clear.
In one, a woman displayed a drawing of a camel with Muhammad's head and beer bottles as humps while the group laughed.
Kenneth Christensen, chairman of the Party's youth group, refused to apologize Friday for the actions of its members, but acknowledged they were problematic.
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's two biggest Islamic organizations, slammed the broadcasting of the video.
""This phenomenon shows a designed attack carried out systemically to taint the holiness of Islam,"" NU leader Hasyim Muzadi said.
""It also shows that Muslims are not a source of religious conflict and conspiracy as has been claimed so far,"" he added.
Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin said legal action was necessary to prevent such incidents from recurring.
""We can file a lawsuit against the people who did it for slandering a religion and committing a crime against a civilization,"" he told The Jakarta Post.
""Muslims around the world are entitled to be insulted because it is indeed slanderous to Islam and the Prophet,"" he said.
Din described some Westerners as ""Islamophobic"", saying ""some Western people and their media do not have any ethics and are not ready to live side-by-side in peace"".
""They are hypocrites and are holding a double standard. They claim themselves to be democratic and pluralist, but their attitude shows otherwise. They accuse Muslims of being terrorists, but what they did was not different to what terrorists have done,"" he said.
However, he urged Muslims and Indonesians in particular not be emotional or overreact, as he believed the incident may have been aimed at deliberately provoking anger during the holy month of Ramadhan.
""Just think of them as people with a mental illness because they are so. The most important thing is to show them and the world that Islam is nothing like what they think it is. We are civilized people. Islam and Muslims and the Prophet will not lose their dignity despite the insult,"" Din said.
Muslims consider all images of the Prophet Muhammad to be blasphemous.
In February, Danish cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad sparked Muslim anger all over the world and led to calls for a boycott of Danish products.
Indonesian Ulema Council deputy chairman Amidhan said the freedom of expression that was upheld by the Danish group did not mean they could insult others.
""I can't accept this. The Danish government should pay attention to this issue because no matter what the state holds responsibility for its citizens undermining tolerance,"" he told detikcom news portal.
The incident, he said, was outrageous because it had happened last year and was repeated at a time when Muslims all over the world are observing this year's Ramadhan.
Chairman of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party Tifatul Sembiring urged the Danish government to maintain harmony, otherwise ""it will have to bear any risks"".
""A state system should be able to control its citizens. It is very regretful that provocation is repeating itself without the (Danish) government doing anything,"" he said.
