From Jakarta to Kosovo, what's the big attraction?

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/05/2007 9:06 AM  |  Opinion

Mohammad Yazid, Jakarta

It was not surprising that before the signing of the Aceh peace deal in July 2005, people in the predominantly Muslim province were clamoring for independence.

The demand came as a response to the unfair treatment and rights abuses that the Acehnese had been subjected to for almost 30 years.

Understandably, the apology offered by president Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2001 for the sufferings of the Acehnese people under previous governments was not enough to settle the conflict in Aceh. This was in spite of Megawati's signing of a law providing for greater autonomy in Aceh, and granting it the lion's share of the revenue from its natural resources. Neither were president Abdurrahman Wahid's attempts at dialog enough to end the conflict.

Ironically, the Acehnese people's struggle was met with opposition from non-Acehnese Muslims, who thought the province's independence would mean the end of the Indonesian state. It was the 2004 tsunami, rather than ukhuwah Islamiyah (Muslim brotherhood) or silaturahimi (friendship) among Muslims, as taught by the Prophet Muhammad, that was the catalyst for the peace talks and ultimate agreement.

Consequently, it has been rather strange to see various Indonesian Muslim figures supporting independence for Kosovo based solely on the grounds that the territory has a Muslim majority.

The issue of Kosovo freedom arose after Martti Ahtisaari, the special envoy of the UN secretary-general, who played a leading role in the Aceh peace talks, conveyed a proposal for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia to the UN.

The support here for Kosovo's independence indicates that the Indonesian Muslim community is more concerned with the fate of Muslims abroad than with that of local Muslims. A similar attitude was apparent when Islamic hard-line groups, like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Indonesian Mujahiddin Council (MMI), loudly proclaimed they were recruiting volunteers for a jihad in Lebanon against the Israelis.

Meanwhile, the problems faced by Muslims at home remain unaddressed, particularly poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the neglect of their rights by the state.

On the other hand, many other Muslim-majority countries are more preoccupied with dealing with their domestic problems, like Malaysia, which takes far better care of its Muslim citizens than Indonesia does. Similarly, Iran and other members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference are not particularly preoccupied with the issue of Kosovo freedom.

Doesn't this attitude reflect a flight from reality on our part resulting from our inability to deal with our own unending problems? Other countries, including the U.S., may do exactly the same, but this cannot be use to justify our own lack of focus.

It is difficult to rid oneself of the impression that we as a nation think we know more about Kosovo than Europe does, or about Palestine and Lebanon than the Middle East nations do. It would be wise for us to leave the question of Kosovo to Europe, and the Palestine and Lebanon issues to the Middle East nations, as they are a lot more conversant with local conditions than we can ever be.

The Muslims in Kosovo were the victims of serious rights violations in the mid-1990s under the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, who for the sake of carving out a Greater Serbia launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Albanians, most of whom happened to be Muslims.

The Kosovo issue had divided the world into two camps. Russia has from the beginning objected to Kosovo independence, arguing this would only set a bad international precedent. America, meanwhile, supports Kosovo independence, and this American stance is widely seen in diplomatic circles as a token of U.S. gratitude for the support of Muslim states for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Indonesian government has not yet expressed its position on the question of Kosovo independence. As stated by Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda recently, Indonesia was still examining the process now underway in the UN Security Council.

The enthusiasm for Kosovo freedom that has been voiced by Muslim leaders here would be more understandable if it was based on the injustices and rights violations experienced by the Kosovo Muslim community. In such a case, their support would be relevant as Indonesia's Constitution promotes the principle of justice, and the country has ratified various international conventions on human rights and currently chairs the UN Human Rights Commission.

However, it is going too far to simply support Kosovo independence only because the territory has a Muslim majority. The exact same argument could have been used in the case of Aceh in the past in view of the similarities between the two territories: Widespread injustices, legal transgressions and disregard for human values.

Supporting independence without addressing the crucial issues currently prevailing here could induce the growth of separatism.

At present, the Kosovo question still hinges on the issue of religion, but it is not inconceivable that after independence other challenges could emerge, such as ethnic Albanians demanding freedom from Kosovo.

What Indonesians should learn from Kosovo is that the majority needs to promote tolerance, mutual respect, protection and empathy for ethnic, religious and political minorities. Unless this spirit of brotherhood among countrymen is nurtured, there is the real possibility of Indonesia also splintering into a number of small statelets, as happened in Yugoslavia.

The writer is a staff member of The Jakarta Post. He can be reached at yazid@thejakartapost.com.

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