Obama speaks to the Arabs, not the Muslim world

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/05/2009 1:39 PM  |  Headlines

It was another glorious display of pathos for a man finely honed in the art of rhetoric. A welcome, albeit anemic, conciliatory message of peaceful coexistence from a president whose predecessor devised "crusades" and segregated "us and them".

Universally benevolent, President Barack Obama's speech felt more like a call to the Arab world which represents 20 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims, than the Muslim world in general.

Aside from his universal message of brotherhood - which was just as important (if not more) for American audiences - Thursday's presentation in Cairo was a confusion of Arabism with Islam, the dangerous mixing of politics and religion.

At least three - democracy promotion, religious freedom and women's rights - of his seven points are more relevant to a region who's governments are bastions of despotism than the average Indonesian.

There are always problems in application, but for the majority of Indonesians - Muslim or otherwise - these three issues are fundamental ways of life already held dear. The problems faced by Indonesia is because it is trying to ensure the fair application of these tenets.

Issues which have become social challenges, but not a question of fundamental recognition or implementation as is the case with many Islamic regimes in the Middle East which Obama seemed to be addressing.

In many ways the speech was also more about shoring up support for US policy in the region than a dialogue of civilizations.

In raising the spectre of nuclear Iran, Obama committed the very sin which Americans have so jealously guarded against in public life: The infusion of religion into the body politic.

What does the issue of Iran's nuclear program have to do with Islam?

Obama did the right thing in raising the plight of Palestinians, and his remarks will receive a heartfelt welcome. But the prism of pain by which Indonesia and others perceive the issue is not of Islamic solidarity but of decolonialization and injustice.

It is the same sympathy felt for people subjected around the world.

Obama's tougher stance against Israel and the suspension of new Jewish settlements is a departure from the previous administration, but no different from Washington's assertiveness by then Secretary of State James Baker in the late 1980s.

As a master of logos it was ironic that Obama's remarks on Palestine came in the week the 1967 Arab-Israeli war started which culminated in the occupation of the West Bank.

In weaving his message Obama may have also been aware of the symbolism of the Cairo Citadel built by Saladin who conquered Jerusalem in the late 12th Century and recognized that only a treaty which ensures peace and prosperity for Muslims and non-Muslims (Christians) could be lasting.

Howard Fineman in his Newsweek oped said Indonesia was considered before Egypt was chosen as the venue of the speech.

Quoting Obama insiders, he said, Washington however wanted to "show that the US does not shy away from philosophical confrontation with fundamentalists and Al Qaeda, and to back an ally that recognizes Israel, and that, therefore, can help revive the broken peace process in the Palestinian territories".

If Obama's objective was the politics of Middle East persuasion, rather than dialogue, then it was certainly accomplished.

The American president was correct in saying that Cairo, with its Al-Azhar University, represents a beacon of Islamic learning. But as "a student of history" Obama must know that the likes of Al-Azhar also represents the face of Islamic conservatism and in modern times been a place where religion was exploited to suppress liberal spirits.

Not surprisingly Indonesia's most eminent Muslim thinkers were products of Western scholarship, not Al-Azhar or Arab Universities.

The late Nucholish Madjid received his doctorate from the University of Chicago, as did Amien Rais and Syafi'i Ma'arif. Din Syamsuddin received his degree from UCLA and Azyumardi Azra at Columbia University, New York.

Only Abdurrahman Wahid received a degree from the University of Baghdad where he moved after several unsatisfactory years as a student of Al-Azhar.

Indonesia's next generation of moderate Islamic thinkers are molded not in the Middle Eastern Universities but in the libraries of Harvard and Cambridge Universities.

In his speech in Ankara two months ago, Obama successfully framed the US-Muslim world debate by saying "America's relationship with the Muslim world cannot and will not be based on the opposition to al-Qaeda".

But in Cairo he put an Arabic frame on a cultural dialog which most Muslims may not relate to.

As a global celebrity at the peak of his popularity, it is not difficult for Obama to gain applause or rouse an Indonesian audience by the mention of the country's name. As a man who offers peace, he imbues new hope.

But he is not the first master strategist and cunning orator to address a Cairo audience exhalting wisdom and praising the beauty of Islam.

"I have more respect. for your god, his prophet, and the Koran. Tell your people that all men are equal before God. Wisdom, talent, and virtue make the only difference between them".

Words that suited Obama's speech in Cairo on Thursday but actually were addressed by Napoleon when he entered Egypt in 1798.

And we all know what became of his Middle Eastern campaign.

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