My friend the Fanatic: Travels with an Indonesian Islamist

Sadanand Dhume

Penguins

2008

Raised in the Hindu tradition in India, Sadanand Dhume is a self proclaimed atheist who candidly says he has "little sympathy for organized religion" and believes he "could never really be understood by someone whose life was regulated by faith".

My friend the Fanatic: Travels with an Indonesian Islamist is the first book from Dhume, former full-time correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Dhume lived in Indonesia from 2000-2004 and currently lives in Washington DC. Having experienced life in Indonesia, Dhume compares it to life in India.

Of India he says, "We could at least claim Nobel-winning economists and booker-winning writers and legions of engineers with stock options at Microsoft and Oracle. In Indonesia you had nothing -- no accomplishments on the world stage to speak of, and only Islam to fill the void".

Thus, in reading the book, one can quickly learn at least three significant points.

First, it was hoped that a deep hunger for knowledge about Islam in Indonesia in a time of dynamic and unpredicted change could be fulfilled through the travels of Dhume and his fixer, Herry Nurdi, a young Islamist journalist who made no secret of his support for Bin Laden's call for Jihad against "Western infidels" and "Jews who always want to destroy Islam".

However, Herry says, the book violates one of the basic rules of journalism and is a rude penetration into his personal life.

"There was no agreement between Dhume and I, that I would be the main character in the book" he says with great anger and regret.

Second, the book is based on extensive and painful field work. As a journalist, Dhume is neither lazy nor complacent. He did not merely sit in an air conditioned office checking newswires and writing up stories based on other people's work.

Instead, he hit the road. He talked directly to different people ranging from alleged spiritual leader of Jam'ah Islamiyah Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in a prison in Cipinang, East Jakarta, to Inul Daratista, the controversial dangdut singer who invented the gyrating "drill dance".

Dhume traveled to the Hidayatullah Pesantren in Balikpapan and also to Ambon, a zone of conflict between Muslims and Christians. His ability to do so safely was attributed in part to his Indian looks.

Without hesitation, I can say this is a timely book which serves to bridge the "clash of civilizations" perceived to exist between Islam and the West, particularly the U.S. and its allies.

But, unfortunately, it fails to fairly portray the perennial struggle among adherents of Islam in Indonesia which has colored the country's political and religious complexion for centuries.

The book is full of disturbing arguments, examples and descriptions. For example, Dhume does not appreciate the achievements of the most modern Islamic boarding school, Gontor Pesantren, in Ponorogo, East Java. For Dhume, Gontor is like an amoeba which is only able to reproduce clones of its own kind; graduates who understand only a narrow scope of religious affairs.

To support his argument, Dhume writes, "No great writers or painters or scientists, let alone chess masters or orchestra conductors come from that school" (page 15).

Well, it is clear Dhume's yardstick for the success of a school is a completely unfair.

One should understand Gontor is a modern religious school. Most parents send children to this school to deepen their understanding of Islamic teachings with studies of Nahwu Shorof (Arabic grammar and syntaxes), Tafsir (interpretation of the Al Qur'an) and Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) among other things.

Gontor has produced not only religious figures such as Din Syamsudin, the leader of Muhammadiyah who went on to earn his doctorate in political science at one of the U.S. Ivy League universities, but also nurtured poets and writers such as Emha Ainun Najib and Jamal Mirdad.

Mirdad is a dangdut singer married to a non-Muslim actress, Lydia Kandao. The personal decision to make such a marriage required an educated and open-minded attitude.

The worst part of the book is the fact Dhume carelessly equates the PKS or Prosperous Justice Party (perceived to be conservative and Islamist by some) with Jama'ah Islamiyah -- whose members have been implicated in terrorist activities in Indonesia.

Like Jama'ah Islamiyah, Dhume writes, the PKS manifesto also calls for the creation of an Islamic caliphate (page 267). Again, like Jama'ah Islamiyah, Dhume says the PKS is based on a secrecy-based cell-like structure (page 267).

Such a conclusion is clearly very dangerous and misleading.

Other disturbing descriptions include Dhume's description of Astri Ivo, a former actress who now wears the Veil (jilbab). He writes, "in a severe jilbab and loose salwar kameez, she looked like a cross between a Palestinian suicide bomber and a prosperous Punjabi house wife" (page 75).

Third, the book is in fact well written. Dhume's writing is skilled and witty and will lead readers to recall a tradition of excellence in the work of world class Indian writers such as Arundati Roy's The God of Small Things and V.S Naipul's Among the Believers.

Despite its clear flaws and shaky arguments, the book is worth reading for those who want to understand the dynamics of the Islamist world in Indonesia. Despite Dhume's highly critical approach, he told me (after we shared a panel in a TV discussion at Al Jazera's studios) that Indonesia has a special place in his heart, and I know he said this in all honesty.

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